Japan's Itochu to begin water-processing business in China

Japanese trading giant Itochu Corp.will start selling water-processing equipment in China to help combat the country's serious problems with water pollution, a company spokesman said Wednesday.

ITC Green and Water Corp., a water-processing unit of the Tokyo-based trading house, will later this year market a new water-treatment system developed by Japanese contractor Matsue Doken, the spokesman said.

The system will be priced between 40 million and 100 million yen (470,000 and 1.2 million dollars) in China, the spokesman said.

By offering operation and maintenance services for the equipment to Chinese authorities, Itochu aims to generate around one billion yen in sales from the business for the year to March 2012, he added.

The system involves feeding highly concentrated oxygen into polluted waters to treat lakes and ponds as well as rivers and ports where water has been contaminated by heavy metals.

China is forecast to have spent some 850 billion yuan (125 billion dollars) on water-related infrastructure over the past four years, and plans to make large future investments, the Nikkei business daily reported.