Toyota Tsusho Corporation (豊田通商株式会社,Toyota Tsūshō Kabushiki-gaisha;TYO:8015, based inNagoya andTokyo) is asōgō shōsha (trading company), a member of theToyota Group.Toyota Tsusho has a worldwide presence through its many subsidiaries and operating divisions, including over 150 offices, and 900 subsidiaries and affiliates around the world. Its main business is supportingToyota Motor's automobile business and other Toyota Group companies, but Toyota Tsusho's business is very diverse, spanning industrial, commercial, and consumer sectors. Business areas run the gamut, including industrial raw materials, agricultural products, and high technology.
Toyota establishedToyoda Kinyu Kaisha (トヨタ金融株式會社) in 1936 to provide sales financing for Toyota cars. The dissolution of the Toyotazaibatsu in 1948 led to the trading division of Toyota Finance being spun off to a new company calledNisshin Tsusho Kaisha, Ltd. (日新通商株式会社) This company was renamed "Toyoda Tsusho" in 1956.[1]
Toyota Tsusho began exports of Toyota cars in 1964, starting with exports to theDominican Republic. By the 1980s it had expanded its business to include overseas production for the Toyota Group, and had established a second head office in Tokyo.[1]
Toyota Tsusho merged with Kasho Company, Ltd. in 2000. Kasho was a trading company focused on theSoutheast Asia markets and dealt in rubber, paper, food, chemicals and general merchandise.[2]
Toyota Tsusho then acquired Tomen Corporation, another Japanese trading company, on April 1, 2006. This acquisition expanded Toyota Tsusho's food, textiles, chemicals and energy business and caused it to leapfrogSojitz to become the sixth-largest general trading company in Japan.[3] Tomen had been founded in 1920 as Toyo Menka Kaisha (東洋棉花株式會社) from the cotton trading business ofMitsui & Co. and was active in grain processing, power generation, agrochemicals and other business areas worldwide.[4] These acquisitions together expanded Toyota Tsusho's business beyond its historical automotive focus.[1]
In March 2016, Toyota Tsusho announced having reached a broad cooperation agreement withBolloré Logistics, the logistics arm of theBolloré French conglomerate, to "enhance and secure their foundation as Africa's number one position by the joint business development in various fields including infrastructure and logistics" (quote), both in Africa as well as globally.
In August 2018, Toyota Tsusho began a partnership with Microsoft to createfish farming tools using theMicrosoft Azure application suite forIoT technologies related to water management. Developed in part by researchers fromKindai University, the water pump mechanisms useartificial intelligence to count the number of fish on aconveyor belt, analyze the number of fish, and deduce the effectiveness of water flow from the data the fish provide. The specificcomputer programs used in the process fall under the Azure Machine Learning and the Azure IoT Hub platforms.[5]
On November 14, 2022, OneH2, Inc. have partnership with Toyota Tsusho America, Inc on hydrogen fuel cell technologies.[6]
Toyota Tsusho's businesses are divided into 7 business sections:[7]
Metals: The Metals Division views steel and non-ferrous metals as products with unique properties and functions rather than simple commodities. This approach allows us to provide optimal products and logistics matching the needs of both suppliers and users. The Division is composed of multiple strategic business units (SBUs), all of which manage both steel and non-ferrous products. This ensures that each SBU can respond to customer needs with proposals covering multiple types of metal products.
Global Parts & Logistics: The Global Parts & Logistics Division's network spans 38 nations, with 177 sites operated by 79 overseas subsidiaries and business entities. It has approximately 14,000 members worldwide.
Automotive: The Automotive Division exports passenger cars, commercial vehicles, trucks, buses, material handling machineries, motorcycles, and spare parts manufactured primarily by the Toyota Group in Japan to countries around the world, and also exports products manufactured outside Japan to other countries. The Division's global network covers 146 nations, with the Division having its own business management operations in 48 nations. (Including the vehicle business of the Africa Division, this total becomes 175 nations worldwide, with the Division having its own business management operations in 87 nations.)
Machinery, Energy & Project: The Machinery, Energy & Project Division is engaged in the machinery and equipment business (primarily in theautomotive industry), the construction equipment business, the electric power business, the energy business (natural gas, oil, and coal projects), and the plant business.
Chemicals & Electronics: The Chemicals & Electronics Division takes an integrated approach to its three main businesses: automotive materials, chemicals, and electronics.
Food & Consumer Services: The Food & Consumer Services Division is contributing to healthier, more prosperous ways of life through initiatives in its four core businesses: grain, food, insurance, and lifestyle.
Africa: For more than 90 years, Toyota Tsusho has striven to develop markets in Africa from a long-term perspective by growing with communities and their people through trade and investments. In 2012, Toyota Tsusho acquired a capital stake in the largest French trading company, CFAO; in December 2016, Toyota Tsusho made CFAO a wholly owned subsidiary, with the aim of accelerating its business initiatives in Africa. The Africa Division—the company's first division dedicated to a single region—was subsequently established in April 2017.
