Cargill Dow & Toray Team Up on Ingeo

TOKYO -- April 25, 2003 --The global commercialization of Ingeo(TM) fiber, a breakthrough that allows man-made fibers to be derived from 100 percent annually renewable resources, has taken another step today. Toray Industries Inc., one of the world's largest fiber and textile producers with operations in nineteen countries and regions, has signed a master license agreement with Cargill Dow LLC to produce and sell Ingeo fibers. This agreement includes technology licenses, brands, and raw material supply, to manufacture and sell Ingeo fibers products made from Cargill Dow's PLA (polylactic acid) polymers.

Toray will be supplied with PLA and will be licensed to utilize technologies to make Ingeo fiber. Toray will manufacture and sell the PLA fiber and textiles around the world, including Japan, other parts of Asia, and Europe. Additionally, Toray will receive a license to use Cargill Dow's Ingeo fiber brand. Ingeo fibers will be used to manufacture items ranging from fiber and yarns to consumer products, and Toray will promote the Ingeo fiber brand jointly with Cargill Dow.

In Toray's "Project New TORAY 21" program, in which the company's business reforms toward "A New Toray for the 21st Century," Toray has located business areas belonging to environment, safety, and amenity as the promising business fields, and its policy is to nurture them as major earnings sources by 2010. With the conclusion of the master agreement, Toray will develop its PLA fiber business on a full-scale basis and strategically expand it in the environmental business field, which is expected to exhibit substantial growth.

Regarding application development, Toray initially aims to develop and market PLA fiber products for industrial and consumer use, such as carpets, bedding, and industrial materials, taking advantage of the fiber's superior characteristics, which include degradability, germ resistance, and safeness to the skin. Subsequently, Toray plans to also develop the fiber in a broad range of applications, including clothing and home interiors, to target a substantial annual sales volume.

Toray had earlier announced its intentions to become a licensee partner, to promote Cargill Dow's Ingeo fiber. This master agreement will now enable Toray to strengthen its business relationships with Cargill Dow. Toray and Cargill Dow, through global cooperation using both companies' technological and marketing activities, aim to enrich the value of Ingeo fiber products as a major new material that is derived from 100 percent annually renewable resources and which will contribute to environmental sustainability. In addition, Toray is authorized to develop and use their own sub-brand, Ecodear, in communicating Toray's products derived from Cargill Dow's PLA polymer.

Ingeo fiber is a new brand concept based on the principles of sustainability - economic viability, social responsibility and environmental soundness. It represents the world's first man-made fiber derived from 100 percent annually renewable resources. The process to make Ingeo fiber is based on the fermentation of simple plant sugars to create a proprietary polymer that can then be spun into a fiber. Ingeo fiber is ideally suited for a range of textile products and applications where it competes with traditional fibers on a price and performance basis. For more information on Ingeo fibers, please visit our Web site at www.ingeofibers.com.

Ingeo and the Ingeo logo are trademarks of Cargill Dow LLC.