Currently, Toyota sources 90 percent of its requirement of rare-earth elements from China, but following stricter export restrictions in the mainland, the car maker is looking elsewhere.

Toyota Tsusho has acquired Tokyo-based trading house, Wako Bussan Co., for 500 million yen. Wako Bussan Co. owns the right to purchase rare-earth elements from India’s state-run Indian Rare Earths Ltd. Toyota Tsusho is planning to send its engineers to India to share mining techniques and develop human resource. The trading house has also struck a deal with the Vietnamese state-run mining agency to jointly develop the Dong Pao deposits, northwest of Hanoi, for mining rare-earth elements.

While the yield of rare-earth elements from Vietnamese deposit is expected to be 5000 tons annually starting in 2011, Toyota will begin importing 4000 tons of the elements annually from 2010. Demand for rare-earth elements is increasing because they form an essential component in motor of hybrid cars and are also used in hard disk drives and mobile phones. The share prices of Toyota Tsusho closed down 1.076 percent at 788 yen on Tuesday.