is a

sōgō shōsha are Japanese companies that trade in a wide range of products and materials. In addition to acting as intermediaries, ''sōgō shōsha'' also engage in logistics, plant development and other services, as well as international resource explorat ...

(trading company), a member of the

Toyota Group The is a group of companies that have supplier, vendor and investment relationships with Toyota Industries and Toyota Motor vehicle manufacturing facilities. It is similar to a ''keiretsu'' in that no particular entity has outright control over ...

. 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 supporting

Toyota Motor is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the Automotive industry#By ...

'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.

History

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

established in 1936 to provide sales financing for Toyota cars. The dissolution of the Toyota ''

zaibatsu is a Japanese term referring to industrial and financial vertically integrated business conglomerates in the Empire of Japan, whose influence and size allowed control over significant parts of the Japanese economy from the Meiji period unt ...

'' in 1948 led to the trading division of Toyota Finance being spun off to a new company called This company was renamed "Toyoda Tsusho" in 1956. Toyota Tsusho began exports of Toyota cars in 1964, starting with exports to the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

. 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. Toyota Tsusho merged with Kasho Company, Ltd. in 2000. Kasho was a trading company focused on the

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...

markets and dealt in rubber, paper, food, chemicals and general merchandise. 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 leapfrog

Sojitz is a ''sogo shosha'' (general trading company) based in Tokyo, Japan. It is engaged in a wide range of businesses globally, including buying, selling, importing, and exporting goods, manufacturing and selling products, providing services, and pl ...

to become the sixth-largest general trading company in Japan. Tomen had been founded in 1920 as from the cotton trading business of Mitsui & Co. and was active in grain processing, power generation, agrochemicals and other business areas worldwide. These acquisitions together expanded Toyota Tsusho's business beyond its historical automotive focus. In March 2016, Toyota Tsusho announced having reached a broad cooperation agreement with Bolloré Logistics, the logistics arm of the

Bolloré Bolloré SE () is a French conglomerate headquartered in Puteaux, on the western outskirts of Paris, France. Founded in 1822, the company has interests in Vivendi, international freight forwarding, oil storage and pipelines in France, solid sta ...

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 create

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tools using the Microsoft Azure application suite for IoT technologies related to water management. Developed in part by researchers from

Kindai University is a private non-sectarian and coeducational university based in Higashiosaka, Osaka, Japan with campuses in five other locations: Nara, Nara; Ōsakasayama, Osaka; Uchita, Wakayama; Higashihiroshima, Hiroshima; and Iizuka, Fukuoka. The Eng ...

, the water pump mechanisms use

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech r ...

to count the number of fish on a conveyor belt, analyze the number of fish, and deduce the effectiveness of water flow from the data the fish provide. The specific

computer programs A computer program is a sequence or set of instructions in a programming language for a computer to execute. Computer programs are one component of software, which also includes documentation and other intangible components. A computer program ...

used in the process fall under the Azure Machine Learning and the Azure IoT Hub platforms.

Business sections

Toyota Tsusho's businesses are divided into 7 business sections: *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 the automotive 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. We generate synergies between them to expand business. *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.

Head Offices

*Nagoya head office - 9–8, Meieki 4-chome, Nakamura-ku,

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most po ...

, Japan *Tokyo head office - 3-13, Konan 2-chome, Minato-ku,

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, Japan

Major subsidiaries and affiliates

*CFAO * Toyotsu Machinery Corporation * Tomen Electronics Corporation * Tomen Devices Corporation * Elematec Corporation *

Sanyo Chemical Industries, Ltd. , stylized as SANYO, is a Japanese electronics company and formerly a member of the ''Fortune'' Global 500 whose headquarters was located in Moriguchi, Osaka prefecture, Japan. Sanyo had over 230 subsidiaries and affiliates, and was founded ...

* Eurus Energy Holdings Corporation * Fukuske Corporation * First Baking Co., Ltd. * Toyota Tsusho America, Inc.
Toyota Tsusho Finance (CAMBODIA) PLC
*Toyota Tsusho Canada, Inc. *Toyota Tsusho De Venezuela, C.A. *S.C. Toyota Tsusho do Brasil Ltda. *Toyota Tsusho Argentina S.A. *C.I. Toyota Tsusho de Colombia S.A. *Toyota Tsusho Mexico S.A. de C.V. * Toyota Tsusho Europe S.A. * Toyota Tsusho U.K. Ltd. *Toyota Tsusho RUS LLC (TTR), Russia * Toyota Tsusho Africa Pty. Ltd. * Toyota Tsusho East Africa Limited *Tomen Iran Limited Liability Company *Toyota Tsusho Korea Corporation *Toyota Tsusho Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. *Toyota Tsusho Philippines Corporation *Toyota Tsusho (China) Co., Ltd. *Toyota Tsusho (Dalian) Co., Ltd. *Toyota Tsusho (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. *Toyota Tsusho (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. *Toyota Tsusho (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd. *Toyota Tsusho (H.K.) Corporation Ltd. *Toyota Tsusho (Taiwan) Co., Ltd. *Toyota Tsusho (Thailand) Co., Ltd. *Toyota Tsusho (India) Pvt.Ltd. *Toyota Tsusho (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. *P.T. Toyota Tsusho Indonesia *Toyota Tsusho Vietnam Company Limited *Toyota Tsusho India Pvt. Ltd. *Toyota Tsusho (Australasia) Pty. Ltd. *Toyota Tsusho South Pacific Holdings Pty Ltd *Lao-Japan Airport Terminal Services Company Limited *Toyota Tsusho Electronic (Thailand) Co.,Ltd *Toyota Tsusho Network Integration Thailand Co.,Ltd *Toyota Tsusho Network Integration Asia Pte. Ltd. * Toyota Tsusho Network Integration India Pvt Ltd. *Toyotsu Rare Earths India Pvt. Ltd.(INDIA) *Toyota Tsusho Kenya Ltd. * Country Pure Foods *etc

References

External links