Message from the Management

Contributing to Resolving
Problems of Global Society through
Business Activities

Responding to Changes in order to Continue Growth

While there is some indication of economic recovery in US and Europe, the growth rate of economy in emerging nations such as China and India are slowing down, although it continues to grow. Japanese economy shows a recovery trend as a result of correction of the extreme yen appreciation and government economic policies. As for business environment around the DOWA group, the demand for products for automobiles, smart phones and renewable energy is increasing, while the metal price is weakening in general and the general weakness of the yen is continuing. We have steadily implemented various measures for improving productivity and increasing the number of orders along the Mid-term Plan V. As a result our revenue and profit increased in 2013 and continued to expand business. Responding to rapidly changing external environment, we endeavor to continue our business in a steady but agile manner.
Our group celebrates the one hundred and thirtieth anniversary of incorporation. Our mining, refining and smelting business in Akita has evolved into a unique resource-recycling company consisting of five core business areas, through diversification, selection and concentration since the 1980s, responding to rapidly changing business environment. We will continue our efforts, capitalizing on our long cherished experience.

Confirming that Safety is the Top Priority

DOWA's CSR policies focus on four major areas: Governance, Safety, Environment and Society. All employees voluntarily take part in safety activities to promote risk management and corporate-wide safety education to improve the level of health and safety in the workplace, based on our basic philosophy of, "Safety is the top priority." In 2012 we started a project across the group to promote safety , which is a joint initiative across businesses in each region. This project was aimed at strengthening promotion of excellent safety initiatives horizontally across the group to improve the safety level of the entire DOWA group. This initiative also started in 2013 in DOWA's companies outside of Japan.
There are no shortcuts to safety. Each employee, including the management, will confirm that safety is the top priority again to continue this initiative in which all employees participate.

Enhancement of CSR across the Supply Chain

Demand increases for promoting CSR activities across the supply chain as the DOWA group deploys business on a global basis. We revised our CSR procurement policy, based on universal rules of the UN Global Compact guidelines, considering human rights, work safety and conservation of environment. Promoting responsible procurement of minerals is a very important issue for us as we are engaged in handling of metal products. We announced our policy on conflict-free minerals in 2012 and we have built a management system to examine usage status and sources of raw materials of DOWA. We are also committed to obtaining certification by third parties for conflict-free minerals.
These initiatives are all based on close cooperation with our clients. We will make every effort to enhance risk management, monitoring and education across the group and promote CSR activities across the supply chain so that our customers can safely use our products without anxiety.
This report conveys our initiatives for CSR to all stakeholders as well as to make each and every employee to be aware and thoughtful of CSR. We would be very grateful if you could send your opinions and comments on this report. It will be very helpful for us to resolve social issues through our business activities.