Shigematsu Company, Ltd. started its business operations in 1916 as atrading company. Since its inception, the company has been engagedmainly in import and sale of chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Thecompany went through a number of challenges brought about by the TwoWorld Wars and other drastic changes of economic environment. In 1967,the company opened its representative office in Hamburg. Germany witha view to expanding company's business smoothly.
The company's development can be seen by tracing its two major lines ofbusiness. Firstly, in the chemical field, the company concluded anagreement on the sole agency in Japan in 1959 with Doktor F. RaschigGmbH, a chemical manufacturer in West Germany with which the companywas engaged in business transactions since the prewar days. Later, thecompany entered into similar sole agency agreements with manywell-known manufacturers in Europe, which enabled it to sell theirproducts in the Japanese market exclusively. Since 1979, the companyhas been marketing L+fermented lactic acid and its derivatives as thesole agency of CCA Biochemi b.v. in the Netherlands. In the foodstufffield, the company became the sole agency of Deutsche Extrakt KaffeeGmbH in the Far East in 1966 and introduced its freezedry coffeeproduct under the brand name of Kreis Cafe to the market and theproduct has been well accepted on account of much better quality interms of taste, full body and fragrance than conventional instantcoffee.
The company has also been promoting export of chemicalsand other products of leading Japanese manufacturers not only toEurope but also to the United States, Canada and Australia andestablishing its solid position in various countries in the world.
In parallel with the above, the company opened its Tokyo branch in1976 as part of its program for strengthening the sales forces, and in1985 the company's new office building in Taito-ku, Tokyo wascompleted and has begun to play an increasingly important role incompany's business activities.
as outlined above, the company ispromoting its business operations on a truly global basis, and itsmanagement and employees are committed to continue concerted effortsto promote their business activities. They do look forward to yourthoughtful understanding and support in coming years.
Japan
