Inabata & Co., Ltd.

Inabata & Co., Ltd. (稲畑産業, Inabata Sangyō^?) is a specialized trading company and part of the Sumitomo Chemical group. The company’s main lines of business include electronic components, housing equipment, chemicals, and plastics.

Inabata & Co., based in Osaka, is one of the city’s major trading companies, along with , Sumikin Bussan Corporation, Nagase & Co., Ltd., Hanwa Co., Ltd., Iwatani Corporation, and Sankyo Seiko Co., Ltd..

Inabata Katsutaro established a dye store, Inabata Senryoten, in Kyoto in 1890 on his return to Japan from Lyon, France, where he had been sent as a student by the Kyoto Prefectural Government to learn state-of-the-art dyeing techniques, thus marking the beginning of Inabata & Co. In 1893, Inabata Senryoten was renamed Inabata Shoten (Inabata Trading). A year later a branch was set up in Tokyo, and then in 1897 the head office was transferred from Kyoto to Osaka. In the same year, Inabata established Inabata Dye House, using state-of-the-art dyeing technology to enter the dye processing industry.

Inabata imported dyes, dyeing technology and dyeing/weaving machines, industrial chemicals, and pharmaceuticals from Europe initiating also instructions in advanced dyeing techniques in Japan. In 1916, the Japanese government set up the Japan Dyestuff Manufacturing Company, which later became the foundation of Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd.’s specialty chemicals business. This was aimed at encouraging the domestic production of dyes, as World War I had affected the flow of supplies to the dyeing industry in Japan. Katsutaro Inabata became the president of Japan Dyestuff in 1926. Later, Inabata Shoten expanded its sales network abroad to bring Japan Dyestuff products to overseas markets. Offices were established in Brussels, Mukden, Tianjin, Shanghai, Batavia, Seoul, Quingdao, Hanoi, Dalian, Jinan, and Yogyakarta.

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