Established in 1908 as a manufacturer of printing inks, DIC has expanded its mainstay organic pigments and synthetic resins businesses while at the same time cultivating world-class related core technologies. Since then, DIC has leveraged these technologies to build a broad portfolio encompassing materials and finished products. This has enabled the Company to respond to market needs by providing customers in the automotive, electronics, food packaging, housing and other industries with solutions that bring “color” and “comfort” to people’s lives. DIC is a fine chemicals company with a top share in printing inks, organic pigments and PPS compounds in the global market. DIC has over 190 group companies in more than 60 countries and territories. DIC was one of the first Japanese printing ink manufacturers to establish a presence in other parts of Asia. In 1986, Sun Chemical Corp., a leading manufacturer of printing inks, joined the DIC Group. Since then, additional acquisition-including the Coates Group (the inks division of France's Totalfina S.A.) in 1999- have reinforced DIC's position as one of the world's preeminent fine chemicals companies. At present, DIC is focusing its expansion efforts on promising growth markets in Asia, notably the People's Republic of China (PRC), to strengthen core businesses, and is also establishing a presence in such emerging markets as Central and Eastern Europe, South America and the Middle East.