But it's not just about emerging markets. Through a joint venture with Nucor, the world's largest mini-mill steelmaker, Mitsui also owns Steel Technologies, a Kentucky-based leader in flat-rolled steel processing with about $2 billion in annual revenues. Steel Technologies has 15 facilities in the United States, two in Canada, and seven in Mexico. Thanks to Steel Technologies, Mitsui has a major presence in the crucial North American market.

Steel Technologies prides itself on producing products tailored to its customers' specifications. In addition to standard slitting (cutting large rolls into narrower rolls) and leveling (cutting rolls to a certain length), Steel Technologies also offers high-value added services such as pickling (cleaning with hydrochloric acid to remove impurities), cold rolling (passing steel between rollers at room temperature to increase strength), annealing (heating and cooling to prepare the steel for further work), and blanking (cutting steel into shaped pieces). Steel Technologies is also responding to customer needs by branching out into non-auto-related areas such as steel for electrical appliances and agricultural machinery.

Because of joint ventures like these, Mitsui's value chain in steel products and autos now extends from the far upstream (iron ore production), through the midstream (steel for auto parts, auto parts subassembly, and full vehicle assembly), all the way to the far downstream-the actual distribution of finished cars and trucks. In Mexico, for example, Mitsui sells Hino trucks via Hino Motor Sales Mexico. In Chile, meanwhile, Mitsui is the sole import agent for Toyota and even arranges customer finance via Mitsui Auto Finance Chile Ltda.

Looking ahead, Mitsui aims to grow by integrating its different capabilities to provide ever more high-value-added solutions for its customers. "Challenge & Innovation for 2020," the company's new medium-term plan unveiled in May 2014, designates mobility-covering automobile manufacturing, marketing and financing, and related-services of (plus industrial machinery, ships, aircraft and rail transportation)-as one of seven key strategic domains tasked with delivering growth through the creation of new values.

The global car market is on course to rise from around 80 million vehicles per year in 2013 to over 100 million vehicles by 2018. Thanks to its expansive presence in steel products in key countries like China, the United States, Mexico and Brazil, Mitsui is ideally positioned to benefit from that growth.

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