Toyota Tsusho Corporation is poised to join Namibia’s emerging green industrial space through a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Namibian government and HyIron Green Technologies (Pty) Ltd, focusing on clean iron production using green hydrogen.
The agreement is expected to be signed at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) next month, marking a major step in embedding Toyota in Namibia’s growing green value chain.
Speaking at the Taking Stock Namibia 2025 conference in Windhoek, James Mnyupe, Head of Namibia’s Green Hydrogen Programme, confirmed the planned partnership.
“We will be in Japan at the TICAD conference, and they will be signing an MOU with HyIron and the Namibian government to do what? To invest in this plant, which, as you can see, has a few components going,” he said.
The focus of the deal is the Oshivela direct reduced iron (DRI) plant near Walvis Bay, which uses hydrogen to decarbonise iron ore and produce low-emission metal for steelmaking. That green steel is set to support Toyota’s production of low-carbon vehicles for global export.
Toyota Tsusho – the trading arm of Toyota Motor Corporation, is not only interested in sourcing the green iron but aims to integrate into Namibia’s supply chain infrastructure.
“They actually want to get involved in the business… to make sure that if I switch it on, it will always work for the next 10, 15, 20 years,” Mnyupe noted.
The Oshivela facility combines solar power, batteries, electrolysers and a hydrogen kiln. Its first shipment of green iron is expected to be exported in September to German steelmaker Benteler, with other supply agreements already in place.
HyIron plans to make a final investment decision on the project’s second phase before the end of 2025, which will target 200,000 tonnes of green iron annually. Mnyupe said the aim is to scale the project significantly in future phases.
“The idea is that we’d like to scale this 10x in phase two… and then we’ll see about phase three from 2028 onwards, maybe a 2 billion dollar investment to make 2 million tonnes of that stuff,” he said.
Mnyupe described the partnership with Toyota Tsusho as a major milestone for Namibia’s broader ambitions to establish a green industrial corridor aligned with international decarbonisation goals.
Toyota Tsusho has a workforce of 69,000 employees globally, including 23,000 in Africa, and generates US$11 billion in revenue across the continent.
The move follows a visit to Namibia by Toyota Tsusho CEO Takashi Hirobe, who held talks with representatives from the Namibia Investment Promotion and Development Board (NIPDB), the Ministry of Mines and Energy, the Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation, and HyIron CEO Johannes Michel.
Taking Stock Namibia 2025, held at the Mercure Hotel, brought together business leaders, policymakers, investors, and entrepreneurs for a national dialogue on economic performance and strategic growth sectors.
