Daikin announces to establish a fluoroelastomer plant in France

Daikin Industries Ltd. (Osaka, Japan, Noriyuki Inoue, president & CEO) has announced an establishment of its fully owned subsidiary company in France, as a global production site of fluorochemical business, named "Daikin Chemical France S.A.S." The new company will manufacture fluoroelastomers, which Daikin will operate as its first commercial basis in Europe.

It will be located on the Pierre-Benite site of Atofina S.A., outside of Lyon, France. The construction is scheduled in the beginning of next year and the commercial operation is expected to start in February 2003.

The new plant introduces Daikin's newly developed production technologies for fluoroelastomers, assimilated with our established technologies. The plant will benefit by utilizing the existing facilities of Atofina's industrial site It will also enable the products to meet the market demands and allow them to be exported not only to European countries, but to the United States and Asian countries as well.

The European countries represent one of the most important markets, accounting for approximately 20% of the global demand for fluorochemicals. Fluroelastomers have excellent performance characteristics in aggressive chemicals, petrol and in high temperature environments. The diversified applications include automotive parts such as fuel hose and sealing materials for the semiconductor and chemical industries. Anticipated high growth applications include injection molding and turbo charge hoses for diesel engines, especially in Europe.

Daikin owns a pre-compound company for fluoroelastomers (Daikin Chemical Netherlands established in January, 1998 in Netherlands.) Together with the new company in France making base polymers, we aim to expand our sales in Europe, aligning the production units from raw materials to products and corresponding customers' needs respectively.