Our companies agreed this past June to begin joint small-lot distribution in some areas of Tokyo from this August. We also agreed to the joint collection of empty drink containers in parts of Ibaraki, Saitama, Nagano, and Shizuoka prefectures.

As the slide shows, we estimate these cooperative activities will reduce the two companies’ combined annual carbon dioxide emissions by about 196 tons. The cost benefits are limited but I think we can present these cooperative efforts by the two major beer makers as a new cooperative model.

I hope that this tie-up with Kirin will serve as a trigger for similar cooperative efforts in the future from the foods industry as a whole. Amid a shrinking domestic market, we think we have entered an age when companies should not be devoted solely to competition but should also seek out cooperative ventures with competitors that benefit society or raise the efficiency of operations that both companies must undertake.

While our effort with Kirin is of a rather small scale, I think it is a good example of the supply chain management innovations touched upon earlier in this presentation. Moreover, I think it could lead to structural reforms that take our initiative one step further. Going forward, we plan to aggressively pursue other previously unthought-of reforms.