MHI's Printing Machinery JV in China Celebrates First Production Press; Full-scale Launch of High-quality, High-speed Multicolor Sheet-fed Presses.

Tokyo, Japan, Dec 15, 2006 - (JCN Newswire) - Beijing Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Beiren Printing Machinery Co., Ltd. (Mitsubishi Beiren), a printing machinery joint venture between MHI and Beiren Printing Machinery Holdings Limited, has completed production of its first "Diamond 1000B," a high-speed, small-format (B2) sheet-fed press* for multicolor high-quality printing. A ceremony to mark completion of the first press, to be delivered to Beijing Huilin Printing Co., Ltd., was held today at Mitsubishi Beiren's office in Beijing. Zhang Pei Wu, General Manager of Beiren Printing Machinery Holdings, and Fumio Wakisaka, Director, Senior Vice President and General Manager of MHI's Paper & Printing Machinery Division, attended the ceremony.

The Diamond 1000B being produced at Mitsubishi Beiren under licensing from MHI spearheads local manufacture of high-speed, high-quality multicolor sheet-fed presses in China, which has yet to establish its own technologies for high-quality sheet-fed presses. Going forward Mitsubishi Beiren will expand sales of the press leveraging the sales network of Beiren Printing Machinery Holdings. The JV is targeting 300 million yuan (approximately 4 billion yen) in sales and a 25% share of the Chinese market in this size format by 2010.

Mitsubishi Beiren, a printing machinery production and sales JV established in June 2006, is capitalized at 46 million yuan (approximately 600 million yen), with MHI owning a 51% share and Beiren Printing Machinery Holdings retaining the remaining equity. Beiren Printing Machinery Holdings, a company under the aegis of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Industrial Development, is the largest printing machinery manufacturer in China. It employs approximately 3,000 people, and its fiscal 2005 sales totaled 995 million yuan (about 14 billion yen).

While China continues to grow as the "world's factory," at the same time it is rapidly becoming an enormous consumer market. This trend results in a sharply increasing demand for high-quality printing machinery capable of printing product brochures and posters. In response to this development within the Chinese printing machinery, MHI and Beiren Printing Machinery Holdings established the JV.

In China, demand for printing is expected to increase dramatically in the run-up toward the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and the 2010 Shanghai World Expo. Mitsubishi Beiren will conduct aggressive marketing activities of the Diamond 1000B to capture this growing market.

* Note: Sheet-fed presses print on individual sheets of paper. Size 1 (B2) presses are capable of printing on sheets up to 28 inches wide.

About Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (TSE: 7011, 'MHI'), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is one of the world's leading heavy machinery manufacturers, with consolidated sales of 2,792 billion yen in fiscal 2005 (year ended March 31, 2006). MHI's diverse lineup of products and services encompasses shipbuilding, power plants, chemical plants, environmental equipment, steel structures, industrial and general machinery, aircraft, space rocketry and air-conditioning systems. For more information, please visit the MHI website at http://www.mhi.co.jp

Source: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.

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