BookTitleToyota Tsusho 70-Year History

Summary

Toyota Tsusho 70-Year History

production bases in China. With over 100 customers,San-Dia Polymers became the No. 1 SAP producer inChina.Development and Expansion of the Food BusinessToyota Tsusho also expanded into the food andconsumer services industries. In December 2005, ToyotaTsusho joined forces with Chinese food product giantthe COFCO Group to establish COFCO TTC (Beijing)Foods Co., Ltd., launching a bakery business that utilizedJapan’s advanced technologies and management methods.The new company began supplying various types ofbread, cakes, and sandwiches to coffee shop chains andin August 2008 became the sole bread supplier to theBeijing Olympics.In February 2009, Toyota Tsusho established ShandongFenglong Foodstuffs Co., Ltd., as a joint venture withanother food product giant, Longda Foodstuffs GroupCo., Ltd., and started manufacturing and selling frozensteamed buns and other frozen foods for the Japanesemarket. Through these joint ventures, Toyota Tsushoaimed to supply safe and secure products by creatinga value chain from raw material procurement tomanufacture, import and development, and sales.2 Business Development in KoreaIn April 2003, Toyota Tsusho established ToyotaTsusho Korea Corp. (TTK), and began full-scaleoperations exporting steel sheet and steel products tooverseas manufacturers of automotive products; exportingautomobile parts; importing and selling scrap iron fromJapan; and trading in magnesium metal from Korea’slargest steel manufacturer, POSCO, rolled aluminum,electronic materials, and lithium battery materials.Toyota Tsusho has been selling Toyota vehicles (mainlyCrown) for diplomats and other high-ranking officials inKorea since 1972. Together with people from TMC, stafffrom Toyota Tsusho’s Automotive Service Departmenthad been going to Korea regularly to service these cars.In 1999, Korea’s import ban on Japanese passenger carswas lifted, and in March 2000 Toyota Tsusho establishedD&T Motors (later D&T Lexus; now L&T Lexus), ajoint venture with local partner Dongyang Express &Construction Corp. to sell Lexus cars. This was ToyotaTsusho’s first Lexus dealer, and its mission was toprovide the high-level services and customer satisfactionexpected for the finest Toyota vehicles. Nearly 10 yearslater, in July 2009, Toyota Tsusho established D&TToyota Corp. (currently, L&T Motors) to sell Toyotavehicles. D&T Toyota would subsequently expand toa total of 10 locations where customers in Korea couldpurchase Lexus and Toyota vehicles and have themserviced.Toyota Tsusho was also involved in exporting the Re-Fa beauty roller from Japanese company MTG Co., Ltd.,a product that became very popular in Korea.3 Business Development in TaiwanIn October 2006, Toyota Tsusho merged twoTaiwanese companies, Tomen (Taiwan) and Chen TaiFong Co., Ltd., to form the new Chen Tai Fong Co., Ltd.,whose name was changed in April 2009 to Toyota Tsusho(Taiwan) Co., Ltd. In the automotive sector, ToyotaTsusho continued its dealings with Kuozui Motors, Ltd.,and Toyota Group companies in Taiwan while tradingin myriad products. These include metals, resins, andautomobile parts and machinery and other products in thenonautomotive sector, including steel sheets, chemicals,textiles, and food for the consumer field.In February 2011, Toyota Tsusho took over the thirdpartyallocation of shares in lubricant manufacturer TaiYi-Fong Co., Ltd., investing approximately 200 millionyen and taking a 20% ownership stake in the company.Toyota Tsusho took this step in anticipation of anincrease in demand for lubricating oil for fuel-efficientvehicles, whose numbers were expected to grow inresponse to heightened awareness of environmental andenergy issues in Taiwan.D&T MotorsBuilding housing Toyota Tsusho (Taiwan) Co., Ltd.156