Sumitomo Forestry ( ja, 住友林業株式会社) is a Japanese logging and processing company. The company is also engaged in the construction of houses made of wooden materials. Included in the

Sumitomo Group The is one of the largest Japanese ''keiretsu'', or business groups, founded by Masatomo Sumitomo (1585-1652) around 1615 during the early Edo period. History The Sumitomo Group traces its roots to a bookshop in Kyoto founded circa 1615 by Masa ...

keiretsu A is a set of companies with interlocking business relationships and shareholdings. In the legal sense, it is a type of informal business group that are loosely organized alliances within the social world of Japan's business community. The ''ke ...

. At present, the company controls 40,500 hectares of forest in Japan. In addition to logging, the company produces building and finishing materials made of wood, as well as metal and ceramic building materials. Sumitomo Forestry is also an active player in the market for wooden house construction in Japan, the USA, China, the Republic of Korea and others. In this segment in Japan, the company is a leader. The company also owns Texas-based homebuilder Gehan Homes and Charlotte-based developer

Crescent Communities Crescent Communities is a real estate investor, developer, and operator of mixed-use communities with headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina. It has approximately 115 employees. The company has offices in Charlotte, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, ...

in the USA. It is the developer of the proposed wooden skyscraper

W350 Project The W350 Project is a proposed wooden skyscraper in central Tokyo, Japan, announced in 2018. The skyscraper is set to reach a height of 350 meters with 70 floors, which upon its completion will make it the tallest wooden skyscraper, as well as ...

History

Sumitomo began harvesting its own timber in 1691 to meet the needs of the copper smelter. In 1894, the company began to plant artificial forests for their subsequent harvesting. The logging business was spun off into a separate department in 1898. During the Second World War (since 1942), the company began to harvest wood in Indonesia on the islands of

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

. In 1948, the Sumitomo zaibatsu was effectively liquidated and the forestry business was spun off into a separate entity. Sumitomo Forestry itself was formed in 1955 by merging Toho Norin Co., Ltd. and Shikoku Ringyo Co., Ltd. In 1964, the company starts the business of building real estate from timber. In 1970, a subsidiary, P.T., was established in Indonesia. Kutai Timber

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. The production of plywood is also organized here. In 1986, a subsidiary company, Nelson Pine Industries Ltd., was created in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, where the production of fiberboard was organized. In 1990, the company is listed on the

Tokyo Stock Exchange The , abbreviated as Tosho () or TSE/TYO, is a stock exchange located in Tokyo, Japan. It is the third largest stock exchange in the world by aggregate market capitalization of its listed companies, and the largest in Asia. It had 2,292 listed co ...

. In 1991, in Indonesia, the company switches to a reforestation scheme. In 1993, Sumitomo Forestry established the INOS Group to strengthen its position in the timber housing market. In 2001, as a result of the merger of Sumitomo Forestry Crex Co., Ltd., Sumirin Holz Co., Ltd., Sumirin Plywood Industries, Ltd. and Fuji Incombustible Building Materials Industry Co., Ltd. Sumitomo Forestry Crest Co., Ltd. is established. In 2003, the company enters the US wooden housing market (Seattle). Entered the Chinese market in 2004. In 2006, the company merged with Ataka Kenzai Co., Ltd. In the same year, it enters the commercial real estate market of the Republic of Korea.

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* 1691 establishments in Japan Companies established in 1691 {{company-stub

History

See also

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External links