Sumitomo Chemical Australia Pty. Ltd.

Sumitomo Chemical Co, Japan was established in 1913 to manufacture fertilizers from sulphur dioxide emitted from smelting operations at the Besshi copper mine in Niihama, Ehime Prefecture, with the aim of solving environmental problems caused by the emissions.

The transition from fertiliser manufacturing to chemical production began in the 1930s when plans to scale up production of industrial chemicals were announced to the market as the company went public with a stock offer.

In the 1940s Sumitomo ventured into Fine Chemical production (dyestuffs, pharmaceutical intermediates etc).

The Agricultural Chemical business started with the successful synthesis of allethrin in 1949, the first of many synthetic pyrethroids (SPs) developed and commercialised by Sumitomo over the next two decades.

In the 1950s Sumitomo began to really diversify its operation with full scale investment into petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals.

Sumitomo Chemical Australia was established in 1998 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Chemical Co, Japan.