In 1897, George Foret, from the South of France, joined “Delamare y Leroy” in Barcelona, changing the name of the company to “Delamare y Foret”. In the same year, glucose and syrup production started at the former factory in Sant Martí de Provencals.
Interestingly, among the products produced by Foret at the turn of the century was the “Champagne Foret”, for which an advertising poster, dating from 1902, is reproduced here.
In 1901 production of hydrogen peroxide started in the Barcelona factory. In 1927 the name of the company changed to Foret, S.A., a name it kept until it became fully integrated into the FMC Corporation (USA) in 1992, when it became FMC Foret S.A.
Another interesting fact is that in 1919 Foret produced “Forestina”, the first acetylsalicylic acid based analgesic manufactured in Spain. The following year, the company came to an agreement with Bayer to cease production.
In 1927, Foret became a public corporation and the company went through a major period of expansion. That year saw the opening of the Vinaròs (Castellón) factory. The factory initially produced carbon sulfide, introducing other products such as sodium hydrosulfite, sodium hyposulfite, sodium sulfite and potassium metabisulfite two years later.
Also in 1929, Foret began manufacturing glycerin and glucose in its Barcelona factory, in addition to already manufactured products such as hydrogen peroxide, sodium sulfide, sodium bisulfite, sodium sulfite and sodium hyposulfite.
Shortly before, the company had registered the trademark, labeling and packaging for the pharmaceutical specialty, “Foret Neutral Hydrogen Peroxide”, as shown in the photograph.
In 1939, the company acquired the factory in Puente Genil (Córdoba), producing carbon sulfide and olive pit oils.
In 1945, the company “Glucosa y Derivados, SA” was founded with Cros and Corn Products. Initial production included liquid glucose, cornstarch, dextrin, glucose caramel, etc. In the same year, production of sodium perborate started in the Barcelona factory and in 1947, a contract was drawn up between Safa and Foret to found “Derivados del Azufre SA” (Dasa), with the factories in Vinaròs and Puente Genil going to the new company.
In 1952, Foret, a major innovator, launched the first synthetic detergent, “TEX”, on the Spanish market. Foret handled both production and marketing of the new product, which was very well received on its introduction.
By the late 50s, sodium tripolyphosphate and tetrasodium pyrophosphate production was started at the Barcelona plant, with Foret manufacturing the high-quality detergent known as "OMO" in conjunction with Unilever.
During the 1950s, Foret started producing a range of new products in several of its factories: sulfuric acid, sodium hydrosulfite, anhydrous sodium sulfite, zinc sulfate, thionyl chloride, colloidal sulfur, micronized sulfurs, thiourea, potassium metabisulfite, potassium amyl xanthate, sodium tripolyphosphate and tetrasodium pyrophosphate.
In the 1960s, the factory in Vinaròs started production of zineb, ziram, metham-Na, maneb, thiuram, forban and carbon sulfide.
In 1963 the plant in La Zaida (Zaragoza) was inaugurated followed, in 1968, by the plant in Huelva producing phosphoric acid and sodium tripolyphosphate.
To this day, FMC Foret has continued to increase production of new products, such as sodium perborate, sodium percarbonate, dicalcium phosphate, monocalcium phosphate, silicates, sodium sulfate and zeolites.