The Trading Book: Twelve Million TonnesNarrow moat

Mitsui & Co. (8031) — moat facet

Mitsui trades half again as much LNG as it produces, through a Singapore subsidiary that books a tenth of its revenue.

Mitsui trades 12 million tonnes of LNG a year on its own account, and plans to reach 15-20 million tonnes by 2030 and more than 25 million by 20351. Trading lets it buy from its own projects and others and sell to utilities and industrial buyers, capturing margins between regions and timing.

LNG trading on Mitsui's account (Mt a year)12Year to Mar 202615-202030 plan25+2035 planMitsui Integrated Report 2026, Our Edge
A trading book planned to double.

The book is large enough to register in the company's revenue. Mitsui & Co. Energy Trading Singapore, the subsidiary that handles much of it, had revenue of ¥1,986,458 million, more than 10% of the consolidated total2.

Trading also carries risks the equity positions do not. In the latest year transit restrictions in the Strait of Hormuz disrupted energy supplies3, and the company said that none of its LNG vessels had yet been unable to leave the strait4.

Trading LNG earns less per tonne than owning it, but it needs far less capital. The plan to grow trading faster than equity capacity5 is a way of using the equity supply as a base for a larger book, the way the old trading houses used their offtake agreements.

The measure is the trading volume. Growth toward 15-20 million tonnes would show the book scaling alongside the new equity supply.

Moat trajectory: Widening

The trading plan grows faster than equity capacity.

The number that tests this moat
Reported
LNG trading volume, own account
12 million tonnes a year

The trading book's scale; the plan is 15-20 Mt by 2030.

Source: Mitsui & Co. Integrated Report 2026, Our Edge ↗
⚠ Threats to the moat
⚠ THREAT 01
The Strait of Hormuz
Three of Mitsui's LNG projects sit inside the Gulf, and the strait out of it was restricted this year.
References
  1. ReportedMitsui trades 12 million tonnes of LNG a year on its own account, and plans to reach 15-20 million tonnes by 2030 and more than 25 million by 2035.
    Mitsui & Co. Integrated Report 2026, Our Edge - profit of the iron ore, LNG, mobility and protein and healthcare businesses, the iron ore and LNG growth paths, IHH's hospitals and market positions. — 2026 · publ. 2026 · source ↗
  2. ReportedMitsui & Co. Energy Trading Singapore, the subsidiary that handles much of it, had revenue of ¥1,986,458 million, more than 10% of the consolidated total.
    Mitsui & Co., Annual Securities Report for the year to March 2026 (English) - company history, employees, share price history, total shareholder return, equity production, the revenue of the Singapore trading subsidiary, competition and the Arctic LNG 2 guarantees. — FY to March 2026 · publ. 12 August 2026 · source ↗
  3. ReportedIn the latest year transit restrictions in the Strait of Hormuz disrupted energy supplies, and the company said that none of its LNG vessels had yet been unable to leave the strait.
    Mitsui & Co., Consolidated Financial Results for the year ended March 31, 2026 (IFRS) - the JA Mitsui Leasing and Mainstream losses, the Russian LNG exposure, the Strait of Hormuz and the sensitivities. — FY to March 2026 · publ. 1 May 2026 · source ↗
  4. ReportedIn the latest year transit restrictions in the Strait of Hormuz disrupted energy supplies, and the company said that none of its LNG vessels had yet been unable to leave the strait.
    Mitsui & Co., Q&A of the results meeting for the year to March 2026 - the Management Allocation, the 2030 vision and an analyst's question on the ROE target. — FY to March 2026 · publ. May 2026 · source ↗
  5. ReportedThe plan to grow trading faster than equity capacity is a way of using the equity supply as a base for a larger book, the way the old trading houses used their offtake agreements.
    Mitsui & Co. Integrated Report 2026, Our Edge - profit of the iron ore, LNG, mobility and protein and healthcare businesses, the iron ore and LNG growth paths, IHH's hospitals and market positions. — 2026 · publ. 2026 · source ↗
Sources
Generated September 24, 2026