History of our company
(Photo courtesy of photographer Koshi Tsuneishi)
October 1884
Founded by Utaro I as a sole trader.
Started manufacturing quicklime and slaked lime
for use in fertilisers, agricultural chemicals,
civil engineering and construction.
September 1931
Production of sun-dried precipitated
calcium carbonate began.
June 1937
The company was reorganised and
renamed Inoue Shoten Limited.
April 1952
Passed Japanese Industrial Standards.
June 1960
Reorganised and renamed
Inoue Calcium Corporation.
June 1969
Increased capital to 6 million yen.
December 1970
Increased capital to 10 million yen.
October 1971
Started production of ordinary heat-dried
precipitated calcium carbonate and
agglutinated products.
April 1972
Started production of
composite active zinc oxide META-Z.
August 1977
Increased capital to 20 million yen.
January 1978
Established a development laboratory
in the Niida Plant.
March 1979
Started production of
high-purity calcium oxide for food additives.
October 1979
Started production of
high-purity calcium oxide for pharmaceutical use.
February 1980
Commenced production of
high-purity calcium oxide VESTA for rubber.
September 1980
Started production of
high-purity calcium oxide for plastics.
July 1981
Started production of META-Z L40,
L50 and L60, a composite activated zinc oxide
series for rubber.
November 1981
Started production of
calcium hydroxide for food additives.
June 1982
Started production of
highly active zinc oxide META-Z 102
for rubber and resin.
October 1982
Started production of
high-purity calcium oxide QC-X for plastics.
November 1987
Started production of MAC,
a high-performance pre-treatment agent
for wire drawing.
March 1994
Registration of pesticide (fungicide)
IC Bordeaux 66D, 48Q, 412 was obtained
and sales commenced.
August 2005
Production of high-purity calcium hydroxide
for special rubber NICC commenced.
January 2006
IC Bordeaux registered and
put on sale in South Korea.
April 2006
ISO 9001:2000 certification acquired.
April 2009
ISO 14001:2004 certification acquired.
February 2015
Head office functions moved to
Nankoku Office Park.
April 2016
Inoue Winery Ltd established.
August 2017
South Korean subsidiary
Inoue Calcium Korea Co.
May 2019
IC Bordeaux registered and sold in Vietnam.
December 2019
Registration and sales of IC Bordeaux
started in Taiwan.
October 2020
Selected as a regional future driving enterprise.
December 2020
Established IL&IN CO.,LTD. as a joint venture
with a local company in South Korea.
March 2021
Recognised as a 'Corporation with
Health Management Excellence 2021'.
May 2021
IC Bordeaux registered and sales commenced
in Thailand.
