More local companies shut their doors in July, fewer are opened

ISTANBUL - Anatolia News Agency

Nearly 2,500 new companies were opened in July, according the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges data. Some one third of these new businesses were launched in Istanbul, the trade capital of the country. AA photo

The number of newly opened companies dropped in July more than 37 percent when compared with the same month in 2011 as the number of companies closing their doors jumped by nearly 33 percent, according to data from the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB).

The main decline was seen in larger companies rather than in small businesses or cooperatives, the Aug. 17 data showed.

In July, 2,491 companies, 90 cooperatives and 5,067 proprietorships, also known as enterprises owned by individuals, were established. Data from the country’s largest business organization also showed that 1,302 companies, 203 cooperatives and 2,248 proprietorships were closed down in the same given period.

Accordingly, the percentage of companies that closed last month increased by 12.44 percent when compared with figures from July 2011 to stand at 32.68 percent for cooperatives and 35.75 percent for individually owned businesses. As for newly opened companies, this rate fell by 37.6 percent. However, the number of newly opened cooperatives increased by 12.5 percent and proprietorships by 14.35 percent. No companies were founded in Gümüşhane and Sinop in the Black Sea region, nor in Kırşehir in Central Anatolia or Siirt in southern Turkey.

Silent provinces

Only 10 companies were founded in Gümüşhane in the first seven months of the year. The figure stands at 23 in Kırşehir, 33 in Siirt and 15 in Sinop. More than one third of the year’s newly founded companies and cooperatives were started in Istanbul, while Ankara followed with 12.36 percent and İzmir with a mere 6.1 percent. The total capital of the companies founded in July fell 70 percent from those founded in June.

The number of companies with foreign partners in the first seven months of the year was listed as 2,375, according to TOBB data. Iranians top the list of Turkish partners with 554, as Germans and Russians followed with 203 and 105 respectively.