BookTitleToyota Tsusho 70-Year History

Summary

Toyota Tsusho 70-Year History

the Queensland Curtis LNG project for the following20 years or more. This project was an initiative beingpromoted in Australia by BG Group plc and WalloonsCoal Seam Gas Co., Pty Ltd., one of their wholly ownedsubsidiaries.Expansion of Grain InfrastructureIn April 2012, Toyota Tsusho purchased a 10% stake inPentAG NIDERA Pty Ltd., an Australian grain collectionand export company, and entered the collection, logistics,and export business in Australia. From early on, Australiahad been viewed as an important country for procuringgrains, and Toyota Tsusho had a long history of tradingwith farmers in eastern Australia, where PentAGNIDERA was based. With this investment, in additionto its grain trading business, Toyota Tsusho was hopingto strengthen grain pool management in Australia andsignificantly improve grain collection capacities throughPentAG NIDERA. However, for various reasons,including a lack of liberalization in the bidding processfor Japanese government contracts, sales were sluggish,and Toyota Tsusho ultimately decided to withdraw fromthe business.Section 4 Events in the Europe Region1 Steady Business in EuropeAt 1,300 trillion yen, Europe is the world’s largesteconomic zone, surpassing the 1,200 trillion yen scale ofthe North American market. To expand trade in Europe,Toyota Tsusho focused on two strategies: (1) rollingout the business model honed through conventionaltrading and the automotive industry to other markets inEurope and (2) moving into Turkey by collaborating withcompanies in Europe.Local subsidiary Toyoda Europe S.A. was renamedToyota Tsusho Europe S.A. in 1987. The companywas engaged in many different businesses?metals,machinery, electronics, automobiles, energy, chemicals,food, and textiles?in many different parts of Europe,including the U.K., Belgium, France, Germany, Italy,Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Turkey, andRussia. Until the 1990s, the company focused mainly onimporting and selling Japanese products in Europe andexporting European products to Japan. From the 2000s,however, Toyota Tsusho looked to expand the scope ofits business in Europe and, adopting the slogan,“To bethe No. 1 global value integrator,”transforming itself intoa provider of high-added-value services for automobileproduction, such as steel sheet processing, moltenaluminum production, automobile parts assembly, andlogistics.The 2010s saw several upheavals in Europe, includingthe European debt crisis, the U.K.’s decision to withdrawfrom the EU (Brexit), and acts of terrorism. Nevertheless,the European economy remained firm, and ToyotaTsusho was able to make steady gains based mainly onits automobile business.2 Business Development in Major Countriesand RegionsIn the U.K., Toyota Tsusho expanded its Toyota Lexusdealerships to 11 dealers, predominantly in the Londonarea. In June 2003, Toyota Tsusho Material HandlingU.K. Ltd. (TTMHUK), a wholly owned Toyota forkliftdealer headquartered in Gloucester, opened a dealershipin Birmingham as part of efforts to strengthen its servicestructure Meanwhile, in April 2007 Toyota Tsusho U.K.Ltd. opened a service center in the suburbs of Derby fromwhich it started providing high-value-added services.In northern Europe, Toyota Tsusho built up a Toyotadealer network in Finland, where there were no localautomakers, to increase its sales of Toyota vehicles.In the nonautomotive sector, in May 2011 ToyotaTsusho purchased 20% of the outstanding shares ofVoicevale Ltd., a major European general tradingcompany specializing in nuts and dried fruits.3 Business Development in Eastern EuropeIn the 2000s, TMC and Japanese parts manufacturersstarted establishing production bases in Poland, theCzech Republic, and Hungary. To coincide with this,Toyota Tsusho entered into joint ventures with companiessuch as Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd., Aisan Industry Co.,Ltd., and Futaba Industrial Co., Ltd., to expand businessin areas related to automobile production, includingmaterials, equipment, and parts procurement; steel sheetprocessing; and logistics.In March 2001, Toyota Tsusho established TG SafetySystem Czech, s.r.o. (TGSSC) (currently, TG Czech, s.r.o.[TGCZ]) in the Czech Republic as a joint venture with166