Ajinomoto Co., Inc. (2802) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, everyone. Thank you very much for taking your precious time to attend this meeting today. I am Kaji of the IR Group. I'll be serving as MC. Today, we would like to talk about the sustainable initiatives aimed at enhancement of corporate value. So that's -- you will look forward to having a dialogue with you on this team. First of all, let me introduce the speakers for today. We have Director Representative to Executive Officer and President, Mr. Fujie.

This is Fujie.

Thank you for being with us today. We also have Director Executive Officer, Senior Vice President, General Manager of Corporate Division, Mr. Sasaki.

This is Sasaki here.

Executive Officer, Vice President in charge of Sustainability and Communications, Ms. Morishima.

This is Morishima here.

In addition to these 3 members, we also have the Independent Outside Director and Chairman of the Compensation Committee, Mr. Davis.

This is Davis here.

Thank you for being with us. We also have Director Representative Executive Officer and Executive Vice President, Mr. Shiragami. Executive Vice President, in charge of Finance and Investor Relations, Mr. Mizutani; General Manager, Sustainability Development Department, Mrs. Takatori.

This is Takatori here.

Value Creation Advisory Board, Ms. Baba is also here with us -- Mr. Baba is also here with us.

This is Baba here.

So after the opening remarks by Mr. Fujie, Sasaki-san and Morishima-san will introduce to you the sustainability initiatives aimed at enhancing corporate value and then after that, we would like to move on to the Q&A session. We expect to finish the entire meeting in about 90 minutes. The materials to be used for today's meeting are already posted on our website of the homepage of Ajinomoto Corporation. Please refer to them as necessary. Please be advised that this session will be recorded all the way to the Q&A session and will be posted on the IR website later. Please be advised of that. So without further ado, we would like to have Mr. Fujie begin his presentation.

Well, this is Fujie. Thank you very much for being with us today despite your busy schedule. Thank you very much. So please bear with us for today's session. Well, -- these are the 3 points that I would like to cover today in my presentation. In view of 2050, we would consider the materiality for the Ajinomoto Group. And we are promoting the ASV management, Ajinomoto Group creating share value through the enhancement of intangible assets. Second point is that we are seeing acceleration of initiatives that will produce positive impact based on AminoScience. The third point is the reduction of negative impact and the expansion of the creation of positive impacts. Through these we will aim to achieve an enhancement of enterprise value in a dramatic and continuous way. Next slide, this is the ASV value creation processes. As you can see, sustainability is already incorporated in the core of our ASV management. And the next is the purpose of Ajinomoto Group. With AminoScience, we would like to contribute to the well-being of people, our society and planet. We would like to extend the healthy life expectancy of 1 billion people and reduce the environmental impact by 50%. These are the outcomes that we have already set forth. The next page is the governance structure for us to realize the ASV management. In 2021, under the Board of Directors, we have established what is called the Sustainability Advisory Council for the first time in our corporate history. This console was led by Professor Davis of Rikkyo University. So the expectations of Ajinomoto Group have been discussed under his leadership for a 2-year period. And as a result of that, we have defined the materiality for Ajinomoto Group, which were proposed and advised to the Board of Directors. And then from 2023 onwards, Mr. Nakazora of Paribas Securities succeeded as the Chairperson for the second term of the Advisory Council. The implementation of progress of materiality advice in the first phase and the conversation with the stakeholders are monitored under his leadership, and we are continuing our dialogue under the second phase of the Advisory Council. This relates to the materiality, we would like to hone co-creation capabilities, take on seikatsusha perspective while achieving wellbeing and through our business activities, we'd like to return the co-created shared value to the society. So this is the framework for us to achieve that. And with this time alone, we have break down these topics into 3, 6 important key themes for materiality. And those are identified here on the 6 items you see here. And based on the intangible assets, we have the risks -- and risks and the negative impact will be reduced and a positive impact towards the society. And these initiatives will be accelerated today. Out of this positive impact to creation and these initiatives, especially would be focused, and we will be doing them. And based on that, we will keep on going. And for the extending 1 billion people's life expectancy, we would like to put this a focus, a very tasty and delicious reduction of the salt and also 50% reduction to the environmental burden. This is for the 880 million people achievement. And with this outcome in this extension, we would like to evolve these themes. And next, positive impact in order to expand this in the COP28, we have agri food system sustainable building, that declaration has been adopted. And for promotion of GX, as you're all aware, in these days, the speed has been accelerated. And in the agriculture and livestock businesses, I think the trend is going to change. And for our company, this is going to be a really big turning point or business opportunity for us. And when you look at globally, GHG emission is about 57 billion tonnes, of which 30% is generated from the agri and food system. To this end, Ajinomoto Group, based on AminoScience, we would like to provide feed with high value added and amino acid-based products. We have very unique technology, and we will be able to contribute to the reduction of GHG emission. And to the investors and including our employees to various stakeholders, we would like to have communications. And through that, we would like to evolve further our ASV management and would like to exert the whole Ajinomoto Group's efforts toward enhancing our corporate value. So -- we have now with us the Chairman -- the first Chairman of the Sustainability Committee with us as outside director. We would like to ask Professor Davis of Rikkyo University to say a few words of comments.

Thank you. This is Davis here. Thank you very much for having me. As it was mentioned by Mr. Fujie, I -- based on the Slide #6 The Infinity loop, which was introduced by Fujie-san -- based on this process, materiality for the company was identified when I was Chairperson of the Advisory Council. So the Sustainability Advisory Council defined this processes for materiality and after that I became outside Director of the company. And so -- although we are maintaining independence from the maintenance with the Advisory Council, but now as -- in my capacity as an outside director, I am monitoring whether the implementation is taking place in accordance with the line of -- and the concept behind the establishment of these materiality themes. So I'm now free to speak up because I'm no longer the chairperson, but this infinity loops appears to be very well, but many people said that it was very difficult to understand in the beginning. But we have said that this is not something that can explain. It's just about finding a gap between reality and the to-be state and how can they be translated into the improvement process. So this is a tool for each person to work on. So I admit that I have made a lot of impolite comments from time to time. But all the speakers that will follow us after this, and Mr. Fujie, all of them were enthusiastic about the saying that sustainability is identical to the strategy, we have to provide solutions and thereby generate shared value. So the executives are very enthusiastic that we call this in Fujie Fever, but we have to put this into practice. Otherwise, the society will be in danger. So as an outside director and also the Audit Board, we'll have to monitor on this. So after I took office, I've been keen and showing a lot of strong interest and keep an eye on this. Just briefly, up onto -- I would like to report the progress that -- of the implementation so far. First and foremost, in the 4 areas, in the 4 strategic areas before I was appointed, the Board decided on these 4 strategic areas as the basic core of the corporate strategy. And sustainability is the foundation of value creation. Otherwise, it's just a pie in the sky. So Mr. Shiragami -- I ask Mr. Shiragami to have an interview with the top of each division, and then I had a conversation with every one of them. And in that process, I had an impression that everybody are working very -- quite energetically in their respective field to how to implement a materiality in their practices and how materiality are reflected in the -- in their business execution. So AminoScience, which I call is the very super high-tech material science. But based on this, how to execute business utilizing AminoScience, this is very well understood by all the executives, and they are working quite energetically to put them into practice. So it's about the sensitivity to the society and the potential of the chemicals. Those are combined together to deliver the story of well-being. So -- and these are the common issues and common theme for all the 4 core areas. Just last month, I visited this office in Tokai region and HON-DASHI is a very popular product. So starting off with that product. These chemical production utilized for medical applications. This is an office that is engaged in these broad range of activities. I visited there, and I had an interview with the people working on the field there. I asked about the Infinity Group, I asked about the sustainability of the company. And then to my surprise for one thing, I would say that the entire value chain was people -- many of people were conscious about their total value chain and I thought about -- rather, they were focused on the negative impact but I think they were rather focused on the positive impact. So it's not only nature focus, but how our products are being utilized in society, what is the mission of the company. Those were proactively discussed by many of the employees out there in the Tokai region. So as an outside director, to fulfill my responsibility as a monitoring function, it was very encouraging to reconfirm that this is well permitted in the employee base. And just the other day, there's a GX Co conference, the global executive class are participating in this conference, and they share the business strategy and the track record of each organization, I think we have that organization. And for 1 week, we spent 1 week and had a discussion. And I was able to observe that meeting as an observer. And in that process, who -- ultimately will be the beneficiary of profits? And what is the circumstances of each people? What are the things, the values that only Ajinomoto can deliver? We had very enthusiastic discussion. So chemical versus a well-being story. Those are discussed and identified by each executive. But beyond that, for example, 1 business in Africa, have found out and identified many wisdoms, and those can be implemented, it could be rolled out in Thailand or in Brazil. Those were proposed by a representative in Africa. And Africa, America, Thailand, these networking effects were actively seen. That's what I found in this conference. If I dwell on this, I think we will lose the time for this presentation. But in a nutshell, I would say that the Ajinomoto people are quite humble. And to be candid with you, I was able to confirm that there are many strange things with them. So we can easily pretend to show that they are working on sustainability. But it's just about low-hanging fruits. And if you just take on those long hanging fruits, it's very easy to realize what is called sustainability. But we don't want to educate with them that this is something that is easy. So we wanted to work on the fundamentals. So instead of having a low-hanging fruit and outcome, but rather than those are superficial activities, we understand that they are not what I focused on those easy things, Fujie-san is quite energetic and there are many people who have caught the Fujie Fever. So that excites me going forward as for the future outcome.

Davis-san, thank you very much for your comments. So we would like to move on to the next presentation, which shows the sustainability initiatives aimed at enhancement of corporate value. Mr. Sasaki and Morishima-san, please go ahead.

This is Sasaki here. Thank you very much for having me. If you can move on to the next page -- this next page, please, if you can move on to the next page. Yes, these are the topics I would like to cover today. The second one, the positive impact and expansion of positive impact, as it was mentioned by Fujie-san at the outset, in many different fields, challenges are now accelerating. And towards the realization of ASV, I think we have a good visibility towards achieving the ASV. I would like to especially talk focus on initiatives that we are implementing to create this positive impact. So next page, please. And -- these are the examples of our achievement of ASV, which is about the Global Umami Seasoning Business Value chain and the value creation thereof, I would like to explain this part. So as you can see here on this slide, Umami Seasoning value chain, through this we are trying to create additional value all the way from upstream, midstream to downstream, we are implementing various initiatives. With the fermentation, we are developing Umami Seasonings, cassava and also salt and sugarcanes are the raw materials for that. And we are also providing direct support to the farmers of these produces. And also, utilizing the supplies from the farmers, we are producing our products with a low environmental impact. And we are ploughing back these co-produces to the farmers. So these -- we have been repeating this positive cycle. So these produces will be used for the improvement of health and nutrition in the format of our customers so that we can help improve their health and nutrition. So by having an empathy to our product, we can earn the loyalty of customers and the engagement of these initiatives will further lead to enhancing the employee engagement. So this is a cycle that we have already established. And the next page, please. All right. So Umami Seasoning, the value chain we are trying to achieve ASV and also the circulation of intangible assets are left in here. We are working on to strengthen the intangible assets. Through this, we'll try to create economic and social value over the longer term. So this creation of economic and social value -- through this we would like to further accumulate intangible. This is leading to the evolution of ASV management. So based on the materiality framework, we are -- this is a process of value creation under the ASV management concept. Next page. This is a formula for us to realize enhancement of corporate value and how these activities are contributing to them are explained here. In the formula of corporate value enhancement, all these initiatives, how do they relate to them are explained here on this slide. So if you can read them through, I think that will be self-explanatory to you? And the next page, -- and here, this is about -- through the value chain of Umami Seasonings, so we would like to create value. And we have been working on the quantification of value creation. We can -- we have divided into social value and economic value. So within the Umami Seasoning Value Chain, for example, when it comes to social value, GHG emission reduction for 1 thing and also with the supplier yields and we are working to stabilize and increase the yields and thereby improve the social value. When it comes to economic value, the raw material cost and fuel cost can be reduced. And also in contributing to improving the profits of the suppliers, we can also utilize this win-win situation to bring down the raw material cost. And also, with this positive cycle, the empathy to the products will also lead to improving the sales of the company. So these are just a simulated value, but with -- Umami Seasonings business value that we can address. So the part after this will be explained by Morishima-san. So I'll switch over to Morishima-san.

All right from here. This is Morishima, and I would like to talk about the 6 key themes and share with you the representative activities. As it was mentioned by Fujie at outset, these are the typical cases that will produce positive impact to society over the longer term in a broad manner. So I would like to share these initiatives with you. Next page, please. This is about -- first, I would like to talk about the realization of a sustainable earth environment. But before that, even after COP28, the establishment of a resilient and sustainable Agri Food Systems has become a global issue, and we would like to share with you here how we can contribute to the livestock industries in the Ajinomoto like way, utilizing AminoScience. The next page, please. The first is the contribution to the sustainable agriculture, utilizing biostimulants. Biostimulants may not be familiar to you, but this is an agricultural material that combines the natural ingredients such as amino acid and other ingredients derived from fermentation microorganisms with natural ingredients to deliver power to live healthily, leveraging the natural power and [ equipped intrinsically ] in plants. So a supplement where it sits between food and drugs, but this is like the supplemental plants that sits between fertilizers and chemicals. And we have been explaining this as the amino acid biocycle, but at Ajinomoto Group since the 1930s have been selling the core producers of amino fermentation as products as fertilizers and realize the cycle of natural capital. We have entered into a Spain-based company Agro2Agri, A2A, which became a 100% subsidiary of OmniChem in 2022 after we entered into capital alliance in 2017. This company is offering biostimulants to over 50 countries around the world producing global network. As you can see on the right, biostimulant not only helps improve the crop quality and agriculture efficiency, it also helps reduce the chemical fertilizers and pesticides, improve the yield and thereby reduces fuel consumption. These various contributions to the environment is drawing a lot of attention and growth, high growth is expected for the future. Specifically, if you can move on to the next page. Specifically, we can expect quality enhancements in the protein in wheat and vitamins in Paprika and sugar in corn. In addition to them, as you can see on the right, we expect to see a 24% improvement of yield in agricultural produces, which improves efficiency of land utilization. We also can expect some 25% reduction in water usage and chemical fertilization usage and an 8% reduction in fuel consumption, which in turn leads to CO2 reductions. These positive impacts are based on the estimates calculated based on Agro2Agri, A2A's sales volume, which are projected to lead to the creation of 800,000 hectares of farmland. This equals to 3.3 million tons of wheat or securing food of 40% of the population of Japan's food required for 50 million people in Japan for 1 year. So biostimulant is now spreading across Europe mainly and the market size is expected to grow at a CAGR of more than 10% going forward. This also has an impact to moderate the environmental stress on plants such as high temperature and drought. So this is expected to be a solution for global issues such as the climate change and food security. Next page, please. Achieving -- the second of AminoScience -- achievement of sustainable livestock husbandry utilizing AjiPro-L. As you're all aware, AjiPro-L is helping the status of health of cow by the cow could absorb the feeds more efficiently by providing amino acid in a well-balanced manner. It suppresses excessive excretion of amino acid in to urine. Cow is a ruminant and with our unique technology, AjiPro-L would not be decomposed in the first stomach, but it would go to the first intestine and it will be effective by suppressing excessive accretion of amino acid into urine, it will reduce N2O origin from urine by reducing it 25% and absorption for feed would be more effective, and we could reduce CO2 by 20% regarding the raw material procurement and feed volume and also the feed costs could be reduced by $100, including other items, CO2 reduction of about 1 ton per animal annually could be expected. Towards 2030, 1 million animals, meaning 1 million tons of CO2 reduction is our target. This initiative will not just cover milk cow, but also beef cows. Currently with the global dairy manufacturers and meat manufacturers, we have started to consider cooperation. That was 2 initiatives related to the agriculture and livestock industries sustainable and resilient building of agri food system using AminoScience that could be achieved only by Ajinomoto Group. Next is about well-being through food. There are 2 initiatives. First is visualization of the contribution to well-being through cooking and eating together. Working together with a global survey by Gallup, that is the basis of U.N. World Happiness Report. We have clarified that the people was enjoying cooking and with more eating occasions with others experienced more sense of well-being. As is shown here, who enjoy cooking is vis-a-vis non-cookers and not enjoying cookings 1.2x higher well-being experienced. And with people frequently eating with others is experiencing 1.6x sense of well-being more than the eating alone people. So as a result, we were saying that Food & Nutrition & Health on a physical basis had the wide evidence of such. But in the area of food and objective well-being, there was not an academic evidence. But with this study, we have validated that there exists together with Oxford University, we are analyzing in detail and we can authorize that food could contribute to objective well-being through the papers and so forth. Ajinomoto Group promoting well-being physical experiences to people through our businesses of health care and nutrition improvement through our products information, services of food, we are providing joy of cooking, eating together, joy of connecting with people. So we are contributing to the physical and objective well-being. Second initiative -- second is utilizing ANPS, accelerating initiatives toward health and nutrition usage of ANPS promotion with dishes. ANPS stands for Ajinomoto Nutrition Profiling System. This provides visualization and evaluation system for nutritional value of products and menus. From 2020, we started ANPS-P products. We have promoted this. And together with our 16 locations around the world, we are utilizing this in the product development and improvement of the quality. But in the reality, people would not just eat processed food, they would cook using seasonings. From 2022, therefore, we have started to visualize the nutritional value of the menus and started to develop ANPS-D or dishes. We have unique algorithm, including classified menu model dishes, contribution to nutrients and so forth. So that we are providing nutritional values in those areas. Visualizing nutritional values -- and through that, we will be able to provide food environment for people and consumers to make a menu of their own and so forth. And we are contributing to this and promoting the health of the people. Next page, please. In Japan, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, food environment, strategic initiative, and we are now joining the projects of National Health and Nutritional Research Institute. We are now trying to implement this in a society. And in Thailand, together with University and nutritionists, we are developing ANPS Dish -- and every year in Bangkok at the International Health Conference of PMAC, we are communicating those efforts. Currently, Nutrient evaluation indices based on process food, those Japanese companies initiatives, providing menus, well-balanced menus using seasonings and et cetera, are not well evaluated compared to the European and American companies. But on the other hand, we can say Japan is a country with longer health longevity. And the consumers will say [ Kato sa ] is used, eating vegetables, meat and fishes in a balanced manner. So I think to recognize NPS of dishes globally is going to lead to the solution of issues and challenges in the area of health and nutrient. With the cooperation of Dutch Institution of ATNI, we are doing this efforts to proliferate this ANPS Dish version of indices, together with the financial institution of Mitsubishi UFG Bank and academia, government international organization and NPOs. We are cooperating to provide a food environment support model, a comprehensive one. And this is going to be a model that would help the challenges of the food. And in the next Summit, Nutrition Summit, which will be held in Paris, we will be showing this. Next is going to be our contribution to advanced medicine, CDMO, providing solution and creating values in the CDMO of advanced medicine. Based on AminoScience unique and competitive technology, based on this, we can solve the issues of our customer, pharmaceutical companies, so we can support drug development and manufacturing in an innovative way, we can contribute to the well-being and health care -- from the health care area. With our wider modality and through our unique platform, we can realize value creation and we can contribute to the health of the people, namely, develop new treatment methods and expand treatment for refractory diseases. To be more specific on the left-hand side, you can see Corynex, small molecule protein production system based on microorganism secretion. With this Corynex technology, we are now able to produce protein in a very efficient way, which was not able in the past from development of manufacturing, the speed will be accelerated. And ADC, antibody drug complex, that is a growing area in the anticancer usage. This is one of the bio drugs. We have -- by having less dosage of drugs dropping before the reaching target cell, we will be able to provide more high-performance drugs with less side effects. ADC will enable this. Therefore, the less volume for -- the less volume of drugs is required for the treatment and the treatable area will be expanded. Also, this has -- next is about nucleic acid drugs, which is growing highly in the area of antibody drugs, mixing small molecule and large molecule drugs advantages. We are providing AJIPHASE methodology, a unique methodology unlike the solid base synthesis. And this will enable mass production of the nucleic acid drugs. We will be able to provide a more wide range of treatable area and also lead to treatment for the refractory diseases. As was mentioned last year, we have a company called Forge in our group that has a very high technology in area of gene called virus vectors. AminoScience of our group and the technology of Forge could be fused and this will lead the road for treatment for rare diseases. Together with the company -- a customer company, pharmaceutical companies, we can provide solutions to the serial issues of the society. Together, in addition, AJIPHASE, compared to the solid phase synthesis, we will be able to use less organic solvent and reagents. This is going to be less burden on the environment. So using our AminoScience in the area of innovative drugs and technologies, we will be able to contribute to the well-being of the people physically and hence, a positive impact. Lastly, I would like to talk about Smart Society. This page shows about contribution to evolution of smart society through electronic material. ABF, Ajinomoto Group's electronic material has been generated through our evolution in this area. And ABF is now a de facto standard for global CPU and GPU. As you're all aware, ABF is used to protect the IC chips on semi substrate -- semiconductor substrate, and it will reduce losses of electronic signal transmission from IC chips and reduce -- save power. Magnetic materials will lead to smaller products and also shorter start-up time and we'll contribute to lower energy consumption for the semiconductor packages. In recent years, the high performance -- performance per power has increased about 100 times in the past 5 years. And Ajinomoto ABF has contributed in this, adding high values. Semiconductor usage is not limited to PCs, but server network, auto and AI and so forth. And also, it will contribute to the consumers comfortable Smart Life. It will also lead to a lower burden on environment through reduction of the power and reduction of CO2 emission. Also in the future, for optical computing and for photonics-electronics fusion, we have participated in the IOWN and we are co-creating ecosystem in the area of high-speed development system so that we can provide a timely solution for the innovation. Next page, please. Lastly but not least, is a challenge towards creating value in the area of corporate venture capital, CVC. In January 2024, we have established a CVC location in U.S. Silicon Valley as part of our global development of the innovation strategic team. Together with this location, we have invested in Elephantech, a start-up company, creating low-carbon print substrate. The current circuit manufacturing utilizes high volume of energy and water. This is a challenge for the CO2 emission and high-volume water emissions. But with the Elephantech's technology, the special inkjet technology, we will be able to reduce the usage of volume of energy and water, CO2 emission by 75%, water consumption by 95%. Together with the establishment of the technology, we are now considering how to cooperate in the mid- and long term with Elephantech. This is the last slide. I was not able to go into details or specifics, but our company's activity will be minimizing the negative impact to the value chain, and we think this is our responsibility. We will be definitely doing this. In addition, as was mentioned earlier, we want to maximize positive impact utilizing AminoScience that would create a surplus advantages to the whole world. We want to challenge to this. Thank you very much for your attention. Thank you.

Sasaki-san and Morishima-san, thank you very much. From here, we would like to move on to the Q&A session for the entire presentations that we have heard. We would like to first explain how to raise questions. If you have any questions, please press the raise hand bottom that you see on the screen. We will nominate the question from ourselves. If you are nominated, please unmute your microphone and begin your statement. Those of you participating from overseas, you can raise a question in English. We would like to answer utilizing a simultaneous interpretation system. We would like to limit the number of questions to approximately 2 questions per 1 time. We thank you very much for your cooperation. There is a possibility that we may not be covered all the questions, if there are too many people wanting to ask a question. Now we would like to begin the Q&A session. [Operator Instructions] The first question will be from Saji-san from Mizuho Securities.

I have a question both to Sasaki-san and Morishima-san. On Page 7, which introduces the value creation by the Umami Seasonings. So I have a question, especially in regards to this -- the starch yield per hectare. And also the production cost -- the raw material cost for that. This, I think, is about Thailand because I see that from the footnote. But the estimated value, like a 40% positive increase or the minus 15% reduction, this is quite sizable as an impact. So -- if you can explain how you arrived at these numbers, -- that's -- that would be appreciated if you can explain how you came up with these numbers. So that's my first question. My second question relates to Page 12. I -- you just mentioned that AjiPro. Previously, we've been covering -- you have provided some information about this, but I want some update. AjiPro, what is the size of this business today? And what are the challenges you're facing, for example, this time around, you have provided us some positive impacts as an explanation. But as a business, are you seeing any challenges with respect to AjiPro business? And towards 2030, 1 million ton or so CO2 reduction. If that is actually realized, what is the actual impact out of that in terms of economic value? If you can share with us the economic value that can derive out of this reduction. Those are the 2 questions that I have.

So my first question -- the first question will be answered by Sasaki.

Thank you very much for your question, Mr. Saji. This relates to Page 7. So as you rightly pointed out, the starch yield per hectare and also the raw material cost, this was calculated based on the case of Thailand. Yes, you're right in that regard. So the starch yield, there are 2 aspects here. With respect to the method, let me just briefly explain the method of this. The product I explained the cyclical cycle. So we are providing a lot of our core products for nutrition, and we are broadly expanding that. And also in Thailand, we had -- there's a group company called FD Green which is engaged in agriculture business. And the cassava we provided and provided to the farmers, we are about to start this business. Through these activities, the yield per 1 hectare could increase. So there could be some new plants that -- new varieties that will increase the yield per hectare. And also the starch content will also increase. So altogether with these, I think with these incremental estimated value that we have derived out of that calculation. Of course, based on the assumption that fixed costs will not change. And because the yield per hectare will increase, and therefore, the raw material cost will come down accordingly. And we will split these positive impacts between us and the farmers. And therefore, the raw material costs will be reflected in our economic calculation so as our business. So this again is our estimate. So these are the economic value that we have derived at. So -- that is the background how we came to these numbers. That's all for myself.

I just have 1 point of confirmation. So in a bottom, it says, this is the single year evaluation for fiscal 2022. So this 40% increase or 15% decrease. What is the basis of comparison?

In 2022, the actual cost for 2022 and the yield data for 2022 were obtained. And based on certain formulations, we have estimated the estimated contribution based on certain assumptions in 2030. No, not 2030, but this is the per year contribution. So if you can extend on these activities, this is the annual contribution that we can expect per 1 year. So this is the increase or decreases that we can expect per 1 year. All right. So the single year contribution is the number here. And if you can continue on this, this will accumulate towards 2030. But again, this is just an estimated value. So -- with these expectations, we would like to work together with our farmers. So that is our resolve to work on this in order to achieve these estimated values.

This is Morishima, and I would like to answer to your second question. AjiPro-L, as a business, this is -- has further room to grow, so we are at early, initial stage only right now. The milk cattles, I think this is a very sizable business around the world. So we would like to further expand this business and expand the volume going forward. We are at the initial phase only in Japan, the sales contribution of this business is very limited. So I think there's great potential for us to expand this business going forward. We talked about the milk cattles right now, but in the meat cattles, more than the milk cattles because the total number of cattles outnumbers the milk cattles, so we would like to expand on this to the meat cattles going forward. And that is currently taken into consideration. And thus when it has a scale of 1 million tonnes, the economic value out of that, it's very difficult for me to comment on the economic value in specific terms today.

So this is only the milk catties only -- so that's where we have headed. But when you -- when we roll this out to the meat cattles, what is the time horizon you're talking about? At which timing can we expect to see the results out of that initiative. If you can share that with us.

Yes, -- the priority was the milk cattles because milk productivity of protein is larger, and therefore, the requirements of amino-acid is larger. And also the nurturing period was -- we were able to track them better for the milk cattles. But based on the track record in the past, we will now have good visibility to roll this out on the meat cattle, so shortly, we would like to implement initiatives for the meat cattles going forward, and we shall be able to share the results with you shortly.

This is Fujie. Saji-san, thank you very much for the question. Value Creation Advisory Board, Mr. Baba also could supplement some comments. I would like to ask him to add some comments later. But for AjiPro-L we have conversations with the top of the global companies and also some other Japanese top management. We have increased opportunities to have a discussion with these people because under COP28, food-agri system was identified as a very important topic for COP28. So the business opportunities relating to this, especially from the perspective of delivering a positive impact the United States also and also the Europe. All these global sustainability promotion activities are now making progress, because this person was used to be the Executive Officer of Panasonic. So I think these will have repercussions on the electronic industry. So I would like to ask Mr. Baba to add some comments in that regard if you are ready to do so.

Well, this is Baba here. In relation to the previous question, I too believe that the -- if there is a 1-ton reduction per 1 cattle and savings of 800,000 hectares, when we look at all these numbers presented by Ajinomoto, it seems so large as a potential like outrageously large. But if we check on the actual logic or the background, these numbers are appear to be very correct. So the economic impact that can be derived out of that is, of course, will have to be estimated based on the social changes. I myself attend many different international conferences such as COP or the UN General Assembly. But when this is converted into energy, this is going to be a massive number. Of course, depending on the industry, the impact may be different from industry to industry. But having said that, however, if it's a methane or COO carbon oxide monoxide or CO2 equivalent or whatever, when these are converted into these numbers and the 1 ton -- the production per 1 ton as penalty or ours as incentives, those are calculated in that way, as you may know very well. But -- right now, at COP and in other -- after the Paris Agreement in other many different countries, the NBC targets, national-based targets the food and agriculture sector was not incorporated has not incorporated any of these impacts. So the financial industries and many businesses -- the reduction from the money of agriculture sector, if these are not penalized per 1 ton yet. So these -- but after the Emirates declaration at the COP30 Brazil next year, the -- these will be incorporated in the national targets. That's already declared. So for the first time then, I think the landscape will change dramatically. So the energy -- direct energy industry or the auto industry, the reduction per 1 ton, I think that target will be set forth for these agriculture industries and other industries as well. So the economic value per 1 cattle, I cannot comment on that, but I have some numbers in my mind, and I can convert them into energy impact. So I hope that all the similar things that has happened in the energy industry and the auto industry. When this is applied to this sector, I think this is going to have a climate impact. And I think the Ajinomoto will have a -- for the GHG of client solutions. If you are a client solution provider for the GHG of the food sector, this is likely to have a significant impact, please expect of us.

Just one point that I wanted to confirm is that in Australia, when their meat cattle account for the large portion, the carbon dioxide is already implemented in the carbon dioxide savings, I think, is already utilized as the raw material in AjiPro. So using as funding sources, I think the economic value can be realized. Is that what you're talking about?

Should I comment, yes. Yes, tax savings, of course, tax will increase in a linear fashion going forward for methane and also for not only derived from agriculture, but this is like methane-creditor like 30%-50% up to agriculture and 30% is applied to oil production for 1 ton on methane, $3,000 or some thousand dollars. So those are already talked about, but each company will be penalized when they are penalized the per ton, the emission per 1 ton if they are not able to reduce that, then they will be penalized and the costs were associated with that. And of course, they will have to compare with the economics of developing the technology that will reduce the methane emission.

Next question from SMBC Nikko Hara-san, please. Do you hear us? [Operator Instructions]

This is Miyazaki of Goldman Sachs and showed on mute. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, may I?

Yes, Mr. Miyazaki. Please, I'm sorry, Hara-san, you're next.

This is Miyazaki from Goldman Sachs. I have two questions first. As was pointed out by Mr. Saji on Page 7, sales increase. I wanted to know how this is calculated. Whether this is a unit or by supporting coffee farmers will develop further globally, 4.5% a year? I'd like to know more about this. And you mentioned every 40% starch yield per hectare. Is this 40% every year? Or if things continue and if that is spread throughout the years, this is going to be 40% finally? And I'd like to confirm this -- in addition, I'd like to know background about approximately 4.5% increase in sales you're talking? And another question is on Page in the same material. Page 6, the corporate value creation and how you have calculated I would like to know how you're thinking about the disclosures, creation of value? CDMO have been explained today. But I think for Ajinomoto, B2B business, you have a less quantitative numbers or disclosures, because of the limit, the cost capital cost, there may be a risk of increasing capital cost. And I want to know about this disclosure? By having more disclosures, then you will be able to lower capital cost and sustainability and there may be room for further growth in that area. Do you see that? And do you find those areas possible?

Yes, Mr. Miyazaki, thank you for your -- the first question will be answered by Sasaki. And the second question is going to be answered by Mr. Mizutani.

Yes. Thank you very much for your question. This is Sasaki. The first question on Page 7 for the sales, you say in Thailand, yes. This is the estimated calculation we made in Thailand project. Yes, in circulation, economy, especially in talent with the support from the farmers, we have find this and various products related. We have connections clearly there. So therefore, in this circulation and from the crops that we have taken in farmers, fermentation and bringing it back to the farmland of talent. We want to support this. And how much, for example, if the value is added, can a customer buy them. we have made a survey, a very big survey. And based on those service and figures, we had estimated this cost. So this is talent based on the circulation economy. And for the starch yield, I'm sorry, my explanation was pretty difficult is in fiscal '22. The actual starch yield that we used. And based on this If we were to make contribution to the farmers, vis-a-vis the actual figures, we will be able to make improvement by 40%. And if -- that is the case for 1 year, 40% increase. And of course, if we have the effect then linearly, it may not be increasing 40%. But from 2018 to 2030, if we had estimated that there was not an increase, then this contribution will be 40% every year. So for sales, rather than unit price hike, that means that the volume will be increasing by 4.5% you mentioned. That is the basis of your estimation. Yes. both, for both unit price hike and the volume increase, comprehensively through those initiatives, I think we have conveyed the message that we are such a company. And we have calculated based on consumers' prospective changes toward us. Thank you very much.

Yes, Miyazaki-san. Thank you very much, Miyazaki would like to answer to your second question. Yes, so not just in the food business, but also in the health care business. Sales is going to increase, and that means the data is going to increase. And to that end, we have various initiatives through the strategic meetings, we have been discussing for the disclosures on health care in the third quarter, health care by each segment. We have mentioned about the market condition and how we think about them and how are we going to approach them by having the rolling forecast, of course, for a current situation and for our near future, is we want to fulfill disclosures so that we could contribute to the reduction of WACC.

Yes. For CDMO compared to other companies during the similar business, I think your disclosure is sometimes lacking or has been less than others. So I want it to be fulfilled.

Mr. Miyazaki. Thank you for good advice. Yes, we would like to enhance our capability in that area as well. Thank you.

Now we'd like to move on to the next question from SMGC, Nikko-Hara.

Can you hear me?

Yes, we hear you loud and clear. Thank you.

This is ESG analyst Hara from SMBC Nikko Securities. I am the colleague of Takagi-san. So regarding the social and economic values, double materiality. I think that concept is very strongly rooted in your company. So, this is permitted very well amongst the employee base, and that's what I learned from your comments. So that sounds very wonderful. So what I would like to ask you is about the EU sustainability CSRD requirements your response to CSRD? Not only you are disclosing information, but also the high-quality data can be provided. I think you are one of those limited companies who are capable to doing so. So what are the discussions taking place in order to respond to CSRD? Because your sales in EU accounts for quite a large bulk. So I think you are subject to disclosure. But what -- so what's your thoughts?

Well, Hara-san, thank you very much for your question. At our executive meeting, and we are discussing to increase our capability for disclosure. And the project is already launched and we are trying to further reinforce our capability for disclosure. So the sustainability head Takatori-san is the key person for that activity. Starting April 1, Takatori-san will spearhead this activity. So I would like to ask Takatori-san to explain.

Hara-san, thank you very much for your question. Well, disclosure, the statutory disclosure requirements on a global basis. the rules have been established in many different corners of the world for CSRD. As Fujie mentioned, we are taking all our efforts at the company to prepare for this. Actually, we are now reading into the details at the corporate level and also at the local entities. Subject to the requirements. We are having a close communication with them. So right now, we are in the middle of making the necessary preparations. Gap analysis will be done, and we will identify the challenges and issues. And for double materiality, what is materiality. We are currently finalizing on these points. So of course, there is a long way to go from now onwards, but we would like to make sure that we can make proper disclosure. And of course, in terms of quality. We would like just like Ajinomoto, we would like to present high-quality information, so we are more than ever excited about this.

Next question. Mitsubishi Trust Bank, Mr. Hyogo from Mitsubishi Trust Bank.

I have two questions. First, CVC valuation to CVC. Yes, you have mentioned and explained about CVC return on investment? And what is the rules and regulation within your company? How are you going to proceed with that along with the important themes of your business, that's important, but the time line as well as if something goes wrong, what would you be doing? And I want to know about the rules regarding CVC. Second question is about the disclosure of sustainability. An important themes yes, by businesses, you are doing various important things, and they're well sorted. So Sustainability Advisory Council, what is this doing? What is the prior? How do you prioritize in sustainability? Advising council, how are you sorting them out? Those are two of my questions.

Thank you very much, Mr. Hyogo. The first 1 Chief Innovation Officer, Vice President Mr. Shiragami is going to answer. And second is going to answer by Morishima-san and also from Professor Davis.

Thank you very much, Mr. Hyogo for your question. As for CVC operation. First, our way of thinking is that the financial return is not our target. Strategic partnership or such things are a goal of CVC. To be more specific, making R&D CVC, strategy, M&A consideration. We have growth area, road map. And if the partner matches or technology matches or innovation matches with that road map, and that is going to be first picked up. And by improving the intelligence capability, we are now searching for the partners. A proper partners. And we would like to find out whether that is going to be a good partnership or making investment that is evaluated how we will make this investment or not. The governance itself, yes, we want to be agile. So we have a venture investment committee, and if that is less than JPY 150 million, then that is going to be decided by this committee. But regularly, that situation is going to be reported to BOD and executive meetings. That is the government about the CVC.

And means that the investment or the amount is not going to be more than that. I think that's the governance, right?

Thank you very much. And for the second question, I'd like to answer. For Sustainability Advisory Committee, the Advisory Council, the themes and what are the priorities and how are they operated? Sustainability Advisory Council as is shown here. It is linked to BOD and materiality is going to -- in implementing the materiality -- how are we going to disclose the progress and how are they going to do the partnership, of course, support the BOD in monitoring these activities. From fiscal 2023, advanced materiality, how are we going to implement and how are we going to use them as our businesses. And this is linked to the Executive Committee execution. So Sustainability Committee and sustainability-related staff are going to work on this. They need to understand what is important and that needs to be linked to -- with the execution. And there are about 12 initiatives. This is the first year. First, within the company and the group's materiality needs to be incorporated into the actual businesses and activities. So executive and execution teams have been doing this. And for each of the initiatives, we are providing this sustainability data books and various media, we are disclosing them in those reports. And with the stakeholders relationship, including others. In the second phase in the Sustainability Advisory Council is now working on how are we going to relate that to the stakeholders. So this is linked to BOD. And they are advising how this is more effectively used and implemented. They are providing various opinions. Yes, yes. Yes, please. In that sense, we are having trials on errors, and we are making improvement.

And is my understanding correct?

Yes, rather than errors and trials, we are now making evolution every year. This year. The initiative is going to be evolved every year we review and we are trying to upgrade the implementation levels. And how about you, Professor Davis?

Thank you -- basically Morishima-san mentioned what I wanted to say. But the first generation in this council made this grand design. And we have provided this to the management side that ended a year ago. And based on that result, the Sustainability Committee on the executive side, execution side, had discussed their goals and targets and initiatives. And in the second generation, Sustainability Advisory Council, this is going to start and the execution side, is going to incorporate the grand design into the business and policies, strategies, results and results and initiatives. How those would be communicated outside the company stakeholders listening and thinking that this is just an ordinary simple sustainability. We don't want to happen that. So we want to improve the level of quality of the communication so that the stakeholders would understand this. And second-generation council is receiving that report regularly and Sustainability Committee is going to report as that regularly. At I think the explanation that was made today as on a regular basis, reported to BOD meetings and executive committees. I'm not representing BOD, but as part of BOD I'm saying that as the Director, the goals to achieve materiality.

I'm really interested in and focusing on that. But this was mentioned. How is that linked to BMX transformation. How is that bearing fruit or not in that area? That is the focus?

Yes, I think what I'm saying is aligned to what Morishima-san had mentioned. This is quite difficult to say. There's a checkpoint of materiality each stages, we want to have higher transparency, and we want to make the regular reports. But BMX, which is on back effect, we want the management and the leaders, they are well-focused executive side. I think I'm evaluating that highly.

Yes, fair advanced trials. I understood your trials. And my request is that linkage with corporate value. That is going to be evaluated and linked to corporate value? Is lack and reduction of the capital cost with the earlier slide. Yes, what you have mentioned and explained how that is actually directly leading to the corporate value enhancement. As one investor, I'm interested in that point to be shown.

Thank you very much, Mr. Hyogo. Yes, that impact past visualization, disclosure, we would like to do more in that area. This is a high priority. And I think we have explained to you a few of the ideas that we have. Of course, we want to deepen this and so that we can provide you importance of this is leading to enhancements of the corporate value.

The next question From [indiscernible] Value Investments.

This is Miura. Can you hear me? Thank you very much for appointing me. Well, what I'm strongly interested I was very pleased to hear this very interesting presentation such as the well-being visualization through your recipes and food product, that was very astonishing that you are working on this because personalization is now promoted overall, then the biggest well being for personal level is, I think, happiness. So visualizing happiness is something you are working on, which I think is wonderful. So therefore, I would like to ask this question the many businesses that you're undertaking in Thailand, such as your collaboration with Oxford University, I think you are trying to visualize many things. But at this point of time, and your engagement and communication with the consumers. What is something that is only uniquely available with Ajinomoto? I'm sure that you are doing something unique as Ajinomoto your engagement. I think that is formed the first step of your enterprise value or corporate value? What are the appeals that you're making to the consumers? And going forward, how are you going to evolve them and advance them going forward? If you can elaborate on those points, that would be appreciated.

Thank you. Miura-san, thank you very much for the question, and we appreciate your day-to-day support for us. I would like to talk about the general comment, and then Morishima-san can follow up later. As you have already pointed out, for the consumers, we have to solicit their understanding. So the corporate brand activities is something that we're working on in order to gain the understanding of consumers. That's one thing. And in addition, previously, we had this approach centered on selling our products. However, say, [indiscernible] or consumers are now facing many social challenges, and we are trying to address and respond to them. That's taking place on many different fronts. For example, when it comes to Indonesia, the sales team was called the Sales Team in Indonesian language, but we are now calling them as Health Providers. It's not only about the physical health but also encompasses a psychological health as well. Mental health as well. We are going to deliver them to the [indiscernible] we are already promoting these initiatives and in many different countries, many different engagements and activities are taking place. So in March, we held a global road map meeting, and those activities are shared in those forums so that we can deploy them horizontally across many different regions. So those are, the more we do on work on these sustainability initiatives, the more the engagement of employees will increase. We have what is called the SR as Internal jungle Sustainable Relations and ER employment relations and IR Investor Relations and PR Public Relations. These are 4 elements will have to be linked together, and with that in mind, we are taking many different actions around the world. Mr. Morishima-san, I think I'm sure you have some additional comments.

Well, Miura-san, thank you very much for your question. Visualizing happiness is moving. I think I'm happy that you have took up this point. Well-being is the purpose of the company. And as you can see on Fujie-san's presentation #6, you see the materiality framework. And also, as Mr. Davis mentioned earlier, after all the well-being and value creation towards well being, when we do this, technical advancement and science is very needed. Is needed, but I think we are now trying to transform the quality of happiness. And by doing so, I think for the first time, we can deliver a very tangible impact. So the approach to say [indiscernible] is very important, as you rightly pointed out. And of course, this time around, the recipe, the happiness of recipes and of course, we're eating together will bring about happiness. And of course, I talked about the academic elements in my presentation, but also for the [indiscernible], we would like to communicate this in a very easy to understand way to the [indiscernible] as well, so that Ajinomoto science we have this community site with the consumers and more than 8 million views have been already generated garnered to this as many consumers visiting the site. So we would like to approach the consumers by providing an easy to understand explanation on these sites. And of course, for the future, we like to have the [indiscernible] to participate in our initiatives. That will be lovely if we can do so. So as one example, at Ajinomoto for frozen food, which is one of our group companies. We have this what is called the frypan-challenge project. I think this is already covered by [indiscernible] so I think you have showed that maybe some people are having difficulties to have a very good performance with when they fry things. So because in some cases, it gets charcoal. So I think in a very short period of time. We received many different ideas regarding a high probability of developing food dishes in a very perfect manner without having them burned. So I think those are the initiatives we would like to strengthen going forward. So in order to strengthen our engagement with the [indiscernible].

Well, thank you very much for the answer, delight -- providing delight. So consumer staple company should also focus more on delight. And because they are having troubles in trying to quantify them. But in your case, you are now addressing the very basics and you have a very solid value chain. So maybe you might be able to do this and quantifying these delights. So I have high expectations to you going forward.

Mr. Miura. We will try to live up to your expectations.

Next question. [indiscernible].

Thank you very much. Do you hear me?

Yes, it's clear. Thank you.

This is [indiscernible] speaking. In the sustainability material it is the, You talked about the [indiscernible] and how this is penetrated the strengthening customer relationship and that will lead to increase of the sales, and that will lead to the economic value creation. Whole company I think you have a very good correlationship. By business and making it for your own and how this is being created into the actual business? Do you analyze that? Can I check on that point? And another point at the -- in his opening remarks, Mr. Fujie at Page 9. 1 billion people's healthy life expectancy should be extended. And you mentioned that this has gone to JPY 880 million. You have been able to progress. In order to this to be linked to align to the economic value, I think it will take a bit of time. Is my understanding correct? And on Page 8, I see, you mentioned that positive impact creation and about this 1 billion people extending the healthy life expectancy. Of course, this is not directly linked, but how are you evaluating this and providing positive impact creation to your company?

First question Sasaki-san would like to answer. And for your second question, I would like to answer.

Yes. Thank you very much for your question. On Page 5, the this is how we have been able to circulate this around to our employees. Yes, today, we have focused on Umami seasonings businesses and mentioned in detail, but this creation of value -- if we divide that into each of the businesses, yes, they are dividing this and classifying this and is now visualized more and more. Two years ago, -- in the training session for the executives, we had done this work by team and several tens of thousands of lines come down and they all make up on circulation. And we have a challenge to that. 2 years have passed, and we now have more visualization. For the economic value creation objective to be more specific, -- there are some things that it's not yet ready to show you in figures. But today, we have disclosed what we can and we would like to do our best so that we can bring this circulation more in detail. But ASV management is highly penetrated in our organization. All of our employees -- global employees are working on both the economic and social value creation. And I would like to talk about this.

That is the first question. Thank you very much for the second question, 880 million people. This providing these Umami seasonings and also with salt production products, this is linked to those. For those economic values, yes, together with social values, it is creating value, and we can see those in figures. And this is leading to organic growth. 1 billion is just a point to go through for us. And what is expected from the society to Acrobat, the materiality, I think this is linked. This is also incorporated, and we would like to evolve this, so we are now discussing internally how to do this. So as an early as possible time, we would like to explain to you the outcomes -- evolved outcomes. -- making reviews and how that is going to lead to the positive impacts. As was mentioned earlier by Mr. Sasaki -- we have so many lines coming out from various departments -- and that would lead to that the initiatives and activities of such the department would lead to what figures will be shown, I think.

Yes, thank you very much for your answer. If possible, in the explanation of the impact path, we would like to know leading indicators that could create a positive impact? And if there are any advanced indices. That would show you future growth as well, that would be very helpful?

Thank you very much. Yes, for the leading indices. Yes, we would like to put this into our mind and review. Thank you very much.

Well, we are very sorry we are running out of time already. So this will be the last question for today. Daiwa Securities, Morita-san. Please begin.

This is Morita from Daiwa Securities. So thank you very much for giving me this opportunity. As one theme. You talked about green transformation. And this field offers great potential for the future, which I agree very much. However, on the other hand, this field, everybody has identified that this is a very important field. However, it's very difficult to quantify. And there are also many challenges how to fund those activities. So the first question that I have is that your company you might as well have presented. You may -- you have already presented some estimate as to what kind of impact is already is expected if your products are used? Are these already authorized numbers? Or it's just calculated and you're still in the stage of requiring further discussion. I just wanted to confirm that point. And this time around biostimulants AjiPro-L, you have shared with us some initiatives that you're undertaking right now, but your competitors or some action additional actions might be taken place by your competitors. So in that regard, how competitive are these initiatives for you? To what extent the farmers will select your product vis-a-vis the competition? So what is your assessment of that right now? And also regarding the impact, the impact is somewhat skewed. So I think in order for you to realize the realize them and improve the achievability of them. What additional exercise are needed. Are you going to make a huge amount of investment in order to deliver impacts? If you can elaborate on those points, that would be appreciated.

Morita-san, thank you very much for the questions. I would like to answer those points and then maybe other members, Sasaki-san or Morishima-san can add some additional comments if need be. Regarding the first point, in GX green transformation. AjiPro-L, for example, using AjiPro-L already greenhouse gas and GSG can be reduced. Scientific evidence is already derived. We have already obtained such scientific evidence as a result of many different trials and experiments. Currently, the global dairy manufacturers and livestock manufacturers, we have a conversation with the top management of these companies. I myself have such conversation. And the POCs are now taking place together with them in order to verify those numbers, not only [ Meiji ], but we are promoting these activities inside and outside Japan. So for example, from milk cows, the methane gas emitted out of them. If they utilize our products and services at 10% or more than 10% reduction of methane gas can be expected. That is already proven by -- with evidence. So, we would like to further promote the verification activities of these members in multiple countries. Multiple projects are now taking place in multiple countries. So I think achievability is now very high because of these verifications. I have an individual discussion with the CEOs of many companies, and this is leading to commercial activities. So at, with COP28, the [indiscernible] declaration is now issued. So how there's a strong interest and desire to work together with Ajinomoto for these areas. And that's one thing that I will share with you. And in that environment, of course, as you rightly pointed out, do have competitive advantage? Is there any entry barriers in that regard, when it comes to AjiPro-L, a similar product is already provided by another different company. But when it comes to efficiency, our efficiency is much more superior significantly superior compared to the product of other companies, which is driven by data. So we are showing these data. And together with customers at those experimental farms, we are moving forward with these experiments and verification. As for biostimulants, for example, Implants biostimulants can be regarded as the supplemental plans. So leveraging immunoscience, the formulation, we have a lot of evidential evidence data. So we believe we also have a lot of competitive advantage in this area as well. We would like to develop a proper entry value on the part of our competitors so that they won't easily mimic. So in order to do this, we have to improve the achievability, attainability -- of course, we will have to make our own efforts in that regard. So as I mentioned earlier, -- at the same time, we would also like to work together with other partners who can join forces with us, and we are currently working to increase the circle of such partners. In the field of bio and agriculture, just like energy sector and automotive sector and the electronics sector, a similar trend is now manifesting itself. So the value accretion Advisory Board, Baba-san, has a lot of insight in this area. So what kind of lobbying activities are engaged in? What are the rule-making that Ajinomoto is going to take place -- take part in. And of course, as you know, Ajinomoto alone, if it's -- we are not sufficient in terms of making an impact, we shall work together with other partners. And also have other lobbying activities involving the government. So those activities are now taking place. So maybe Morishima-san, if you have any supplementary comments, please add them.

Just 1 point in this field. So is it -- is it right to assume that you already are projecting this picture that Ajinomoto is going to be the main player in this field?

Yes, especially when it comes to AjiPro-L, I believe we are the main player in this segment. And all the players key players have changed over time. Previously, the increase in the milk production of milk cows and the increasing the production of meat cattle was the central forecast. But nowadays, GHG reduction and sustainability efforts are now added on top of them. when it comes to biostimulants, a similar trend is now happening as well. I strongly have witnessed all these activities taking place right now. But I think the way of disclosing this to make it easier for you to understand, I think there is plenty of room for improvements. So we'll try to improve our disclosure activities. We would like to seek your advice so that we can further improve our capability to disclose information.

So competitive advantage, I would like to learn from you more going forward.

Thank you very much. That ends the Q&A session. Thank you Lastly, Mr. Fujie would like to say a few words.

Today, thank you very much for your participation. your questions and advices were very fruitful and each one of the advice and opinion, how are we going to address and deal with them. Yes, we would like to do our best. To address them. One supplementary comment 27th of March, the term end is now near. And I'd like to comment about three things. First, 2023 fiscal year financial results starting from fourth quarter Forge Company is going to be consolidated. There is a negative impact. We want to absorb them as much as possible and up-to-date smoothly. This is progressing well. Second in order to achieve road map 2030 the positive impact that has been explained today. We want to generate and we want to grow. But at the same time, short-term result, short-term performances, I think it's very important. Third, for fiscal 2024, excluding Forge impact, we would like to head for high growth in the profits. But including the Forge, we want to also keep a good performance. So continuously, we would like to have your support and cooperation. Thank you for joining us today. [Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]