Through to 2020, Mexico's automotive unit production is expected to grow roughly 8% on average as automotive demand remains favorable domestically and in the country's main export destination, the United States. Additional processing supply capacity is required due to strong demand for steel used in the manufacture of steel sheets and parts for automobiles. To cater to this burgeoning demand, the Sumitomo Corporation Group's wholly owned steel service center in Mexico, Servilamina Summit Mexicana S.A. de C.V. (SSM), has begun building its third plant. Starting up production at the new plant will improve our ability to cater to customers' diverse needs and heighten profitability because the plant will enhance our processing supply capacity as well as our ability to provide high-value-added products and warehousing services.

In recent years, road congestion and air pollution have become serious problems in Thailand. Therefore, the country needs to build a low-carbon society and mass transport infrastructure. In March 2016, a consortium comprising Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., Hitachi, Ltd., and Sumitomo Corporation won a contract to design, construct, and install railway electric and mechanical systems for a railway project in Bangkok, the Red Line Construction Project. The contract includes the supply of 130 railcars but excludes civil engineering work. We will maximize the project's value by taking advantage of capabilities that we have garnered as a result of our extensive experience in executing such contracts worldwide.

Further, funding for the railway's construction will include an international yen loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Thus, an alliance between Japan's private and public sectors will export high-quality infrastructure to help sustain Thailand's growth.

In Myanmar, the development of social and industrial infrastructure is a pressing issue. After the country transitioned to a civilian government in 2011, the Sumitomo Corporation Group was one of the first overseas corporations to begin business activities there. In 2013, we participated in an industrial park development project in the Thilawa Special Economic Zone. The Group led construction in this joint project, which involved the private and public sectors of Japan and Myanmar and opened for business in September 2015. Further, in partnership with a Japanese logistics company we established a logistics company in the industrial park, enabling us to offer one-stop logistics services to companies establishing bases in the Thilawa Special Economic Zone. Also, we are building a gas-fired thermal power plant on land next to the zone.

Through such projects to develop basic infrastructure, we will help invigorate industry and advance economic development in Myanmar.

Since 1996, we have been operating a TV shopping business that caters to consumers' ever-changing needs through Jupiter Shop Channel. In March 2016, the ownership structure of Jupiter Shop Channel was altered by having J:COM and KDDI Corporation (KDDI) respectively acquire 50% and 5% of Jupiter Shop Channel shares, placing the company under the control of a new partnership among Sumitomo Corporation, J:COM, and KDDI. This will enable J:COM and Jupiter Shop Channel to conduct sales and promotional activities targeted at each other's customers to cultivate new customers and expand their businesses. This business unit is thus able to leverage the strength of each of its businesses while reinforcing collaborations among them to develop new services and businesses, which will lead to enhancing customer satisfaction and increasing earnings.