Mitsui's Forests
Creating Value from Forests
At Mitsui's Forests, we protect and nurture the diverse values and functions that forests possess and, by returning the earnings obtained to forest management, aim for forest management that is also economically sustainable. Leveraging the networks and functions unique to a general trading company, we are working to create new value that utilizes forest resources.
Applying Digital Transformation (DX)
Toward realizing efficient smart forestry, Mitsui's Forests began acquiring geographic information through aerial surveying in September 2019 and is advancing the analysis and use of that data. Using the acquired digital data, we have worked to make forests' CO2 absorption visible and to create J-Credits, a domestic emissions credit derived from forests.
To promote forest J-Credits, we organized issues through interviews with stakeholders and repeatedly verified and explained the aerial-survey data acquired at Mitsui's Forests. That, too, served as one element of verification, leading in August 2021 to a rule revision allowing digital data from aerial and drone surveys to be used in J-Credit applications.
Going forward, by creating J-Credits from appropriately managed domestic forests and returning the sales proceeds to forest management, we aim to realize sustainable forest management. Such initiatives are spreading beyond Mitsui's Forests to forests across Japan as part of Mitsui's business.
In addition, in 2025, at the Tofutsu Forests—one of Mitsui's Forests in the Obihiro area of Hokkaido—we cooperated in a demonstration to verify the applicability of forestry machinery (a harvester and forwarder) made by Komatsu Forest AB, a subsidiary of Komatsu Ltd., to forestry in Japan. These machines are equipped with ICT functions that digitally capture and manage records of felling and extraction work and location information, and we confirmed the potential of data use to improve work efficiency and productivity. This initiative verifies the potential for solving the major challenges of Japanese forestry—safety, labor shortages, and productivity improvement—through the use of high-performance forestry machinery already in practical use in Europe and elsewhere. We provided our company-owned forest as a demonstration field and supported smooth implementation through on-site coordination and safety management by Mitsui Bussan Forest. We will use Mitsui's Forests as a place to demonstrate new technologies and knowledge, contributing to the promotion of smart forestry and sustainable forest management.
Komatsu Forest｜931XC Harvester
Komatsu Forest｜855 Forwarder
Strategic Use of the Benefits of Mitsui's Forest
Here we introduce the strategic ways—using the diverse values and materials that Mitsui's Forests provide through initiatives unique to a general trading company.
Tomakomai Biomass Power Generation
Tomakomai Biomass Power Generation Co., Ltd., an affiliate company, is using unused wood thinned from forests in Hokkaido as fuel for biomass power generation in order to supply carbon neutral energy that is locally produced and consumed. In addition to investing in the company, we provide it with unused wood from company owned forests in Hokkaido, as well as collecting and supplying wood from forests owned by other companies, to contribute to the stable supply of carbon neutral energy.
Aroma oils and furniture
With the cooperation of our business partners Tsuji Oil Mills Co., Ltd. and Soda Aromatic Co., Ltd., we produced our own original aroma oil using oil extracted from cypress residual material from Mitsui's Forests. The aroma oil is used as part of our hospitality to guests on the visitor-meeting-room floor of our head office building. Through the scent of cypress, it is an initiative that lets people feel the bounty of Mitsui's Forests close at hand.
In addition, in the head office building, we use timber from Mitsui's Forests for the furniture and objects in the waiting space of the first-floor lobby and on the visitor-meeting-room floor, bringing the warmth of wood into each space.
Aroma oil
First-floor lobby of Mitsui & Co.'s head office
Visitor-meeting-room floor of Mitsui & Co.'s head office
Fire-resistant laminated timber for high-rise wooden buildings
We supplied company-owned forest timber for part of a high-rise wooden building project designed and constructed by Takenaka Corporation.
Takenaka Corporation is advancing the construction of the “Forest Grand Cycle®,” which raises timber demand through wooden and timber construction in urban areas and links it to the revitalization of forests, forestry, and regions. This is based on the idea that forests are kept healthy through the forest cycle of “plant → grow → harvest → use → plant,” and that expanding timber use in urban areas and mid- to high-rise buildings supports that cycle. The fire-resistant laminated timber “Moen-Wood®” developed by the company is a technology that broadens the possibilities of timber use in mid- to high-rise buildings, and within these initiatives, timber grown in our forests is transformed into urban buildings, creating new value. This case embodies a virtuous cycle that connects forests and cities by “using” the timber of Mitsui's Forests to participate in the circulation of forest resources.
Mitsui's Forests Craft Gin
Mitsui's Forests craft gin is an initiative launched by the Hokkaido Office in collaboration with Shakotan Spirit Co., Ltd., which works on regional revitalization in Hokkaido, where 80% of the company-owned forests are located. Using botanicals harvested from three forests, three flavors of craft gin—each with its own character—were created.
The first, “Ruri,” uses Sakhalin spruce harvested in the Niwan Forest as a raw material; the second, “Tonoto,” uses Sakhalin fir and mugwort from the Saru Forest; and the third, “Ishii,” named after the “Ishii Forest” from which six kinds of botanicals (Japanese larch, Sakhalin fir, spruce, katsura, magnolia, and linden) were harvested. As a way to convey our thoughts on Mitsui's Forests and our approach to sustainability management, we offer them to our customers as novelty goods.
From left: Tonoto (Saru Forest), Ruri (Niwan Forest), Ishii (Ishii Forest)
Hinoki Hand Cream
Using unused material of Owase cypress produced from the Sando Forest (Mie Prefecture), one of Mitsui's Forests, a hand cream using its essential oil was manufactured. To convey our approach to sustainability management and its practice, we offer it as novelty goods for customers.
