Toyota will launch global sugar trading desk within months

Toyota will begin trading globally in sugar within months, their director of sugar trading has said.

The Japanese conglomerate Toyota Tsusho Corp (TTC) already trades in metals globally, but this will be its first international trading venture in agricultural commodities which focuses outside of the Japanese domestic market.

The company has already hired 11 staff including physical and futures traders and it is expected that the London-based team will start trading early next year.

Japanese refiners already buy sugar through Toyota, but the new desk would have an international focus, Director of Sugar Trading Richard O’Connor said.

“Within two or three years we’re aiming to trade 1m tonnes per annum on the physical market,” said O’Connor. He added that potential trade partners would be attracted to Toyota’s capital backing because of it lowered risk.

O’Connor also said that expansion of the sugar operations by acquisitions was a possible future move.

“Once we’ve started trading if we see opportunities to invest anywhere, either at origination at destination, we’ll look at it.”