On March 20th, at approximately 4:25 p.m., an accident involving an explosion occurred at Shin-Etsu Chemical's methylcellulose manufacturing facility in its Naoetsu Plant (Joetsu City, Niigata Prefecture. First reports are that more than 10 persons have been injured.

The cause or causes and other details about the accident are unknown at this time; however, we will inform you as soon as we are able to confirm further details.