62 to reduced demand, but by year-end our  plants were running at full capacity as  demand rebounded. In March, our  production joint venture in Japan came to  an end, but we remain committed to the  meta-cresol and meta-para cresol  markets, supplying these products from  our US facilities. Both are used in the  manufacture of Vitamin E and other  speciality applications. Merisol’s safety performance improved  slightly in the year, with a RCR of 0,58,  down from 0,64 in 2009. While our safety  record in South Africa remained  unchanged, a sharp improvement was  logged by our US operations, with a RCR  of 0,00 compared with 4,00 in 2006. This  accomplishment was recognised by the  American Chemistry Council in May, when  it presented Merisol USA LLC with its  highest honour, the Responsible Care™  Initiative of the Year Award. This accolade  recognises companies that have  undertaken a specific programme or  activity that demonstrates leadership in  the areas of employee health and safety,  security or environmental protection. We  continue with our initiatives to prevent  incidents at all our operations and are also  working to reduce Merisol’s environmental  footprint, particularly in the United States. We are pleased to report ongoing  advances in our efforts to meet the  requirements of Registration, Evaluation  and Authorisation of Chemicals (REACH).  Compliance in Europe in this respect will  help to maintain Merisol’s position as the  preferred supplier in the industry. In the first half of the year, we suspended  some manufacturing capacity in response  Merisol remained profitable in 2010,  reducing costs and stocks and defending  its position in the market. This was despite  the worst recession in recent times,  resulting in weaker demand and lower  product prices. Weathering the recession merisol Our  Merisol  joint venture with  Merichem of the USA has plants in  South Africa and in the USA and a  joint-venture production facility  at Sasolburg, South Africa.  It supplies cresols, xylenols,  alkylphenols and other phenolics  and their derivatives to customers  on all continents.