arable land and the small-scale nature of its farms, so the company found a ready market for its product. Nichitsu also branched out into other products produced from calcium carbide, beginning production of acetic acid, ammonia, explosives and butanol. Production of ammonium sulfate (another chemical fertilizer) started in 1914 at a plant in Kagami, Kumamoto Prefecture, using a nitrogen fixation process - a Japan first. Sales of ammonium sulfate were increasing year-on-year as were market prices. A new plant was opened at the Minamata factory in 1918 where it was able to produce ammonium sulfate for 70 yen per ton and sell it for five and a half times the cost. These massive profits enabled Nichitsu to survive the subsequent drop in prices after the return of foreign competition into the Japanese market after the end of World War I in Europe in September 1918. After the war, Noguchi visited Europe and decided Nichitsu should pioneer an alternative synthesis of ammonium sulfate in Japan. In 1924, the Nichitsu plant at Nobeoka began production using the Casale ammonia synthesis which required the use of extremely high temperatures and pressures. Once the process was proved a success, the Minamata plant was converted to the process and began mass production. Nichitsu grew steadily, invested its profits in new technology and expanded production into new areas and slowly became a large conglomerate of many different companies. Nichitsu in Korea In 1924, Shitagau Noguchi expanded Nichitsu into Korea, a colony of Japan. In 1926, he established two companies in Korea as subsidiaries of Nichitsu, mirroring the foundation of the parent company: and . Noguchi wanted to repeat his success in Ōkuchi and Minamata, but on an even greater scale in Korea. The power company constructed hydroelectric power plants along rivers draining into the Yalu River. In 1927, the fertilizer subsidiary built a huge chemical complex in Hungnam. The hydroelectric power plants supplied electricity for the chemical plant, in the same way as the Ōkuchi power plant had done so for the Minamata chemical factory. Nichitsu invested in Korea more aggressively than any other Japanese company. It and its subsidiaries grew rapidly in Korea, and came to be recognized as an emerging zaibatsu. The difference between Nichitsu's zaibatsu and established zaibatsu like Mitsubishi and Mitsui was that Nichitsu did not have its own bank and insurance company. Hence, Nichitsu relied on government-controlled banks. Dissolution and reorganization