United States of America/Support for Import of Coking Coal Produced from the U.S.A.

Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI; Chairman and CEO: Atsuo Kuroda) has decided to provide Prepayment Import Insurance for a project to be undertaken by ITOCHUCorporation (“ITOCHU”) that will import coking coals from the United States of America. (U.S.)

ITOCHU will import approximately 400,000 tons of coking coal produced from the U.S. to Japan among two years. NEXI will support this transaction by providing Prepayment Import Insurance for the advanced payments needed for ITOCHU to carry out the import.

The quality of coking coal to be imported in this project is high enough to be suitable for use mainly in the steelmaking business that is essential to our daily life. Amid a rapidly increasing global demand for such a quality raw coal due to the economic growth of emerging countries, this transaction is expected to increase the diversity of natural-resource supply sources to Japan.

Furthermore, given that the coal industry plays a key role in the U.S. to bolster local economies and employment, this joint project between Japan and the U.S. will contribute to developing the U.S. economy and further strengthening the close relationship between Japan and the U.S.

NEXI will continue to actively support Japanese companies’ international business by providing the trade and investment insurance. As Japan’s policy-based financial institution, it will also pursue initiatives to contribute to government policies of both countries, with the aim of realizing the “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” region that the Japanese government announced.

Contact: Overseas Investment Insurance Underwriting Group, Underwriting Department
Tel: +81-(0)3-3512-7668