OREANDA-NEWS. Toyota Tsusho Corporation ("Toyota Tsusho") announces that it has acquired shares of Mirra & Mirra  Industries Private Limited ("Mirra & Mirra") to make a full-scale entry into India's specialty steel secondary processing business (pickling, heat treatment, wire drawing, drawing) and support the expansion of the country's automotive market. Under the new management structure, Toyota Tsusho has a 45% ownership stake in Mirra & Mirra, while Toyota Tsusho India Private Limited has a 40% stake and Suzutoyo Seiko Co., Ltd. has a 15% stake.

Mirra & Mirra is the only independent secondary processor for bolts, nuts and other automotive parts in the Indian automotive market. The company is located in the southern city of Chennai, which boasts a major port to facilitate raw materials import and finished products export, and has a monthly output of 3,300 tons of steel wire for cold heading and forging* ("CH wire").

*A steel wire material created through wire drawing and other cold processing methods or a combination with heat treatment.

India's automobile industry has become concentrated in the southern region of the country, and more companies are expected to establish operations there. As the industry expands, there is a growing need for high levels of quality, cost, and delivery management in the auto parts processing business. In the specialty steel field, bolts and nuts manufactured from CH wire are categorized as high-quality steel products and local procurement demand is expected to rise sharply in the future.

Mirra & Mirra will partner with Suzutoyo Seiko, known for its high-quality secondary processing technologies, to establish a low-cost operation and use this as a foundation to continually improve the business to meet local needs. The companies will collaborate to introduce a delivery management system responsive to customers' manufacturing methods and contribute to the localization of materials procurement.

Toyota Tsusho and Suzutoyo Seiko will dispatch one full-time employee each to Mirra & Mirra to develop local human resources and build a supply chain which can contribute to the development of the country's automobile industry.