Trading companies increase by 4,500 last year

Trading firms rose by around 4,500 last year in the wake of accelerating import and exports.

According to the Korea International Trade Association (KITA), trading companies in Korea have increased to 87,837, up 5.5% or 4,595, as of the end of last year. This figure is 38.7 times the 2,268 trading companies in 1977, when Korean exports were at $10 billion. Broken down by location, Seoul has topped the crowd with the lion's share or 51.7% (45,399 trading firms) of the total. Inchon and Kyounggi followed with 19,835 companies, and then Pusan and Kyoungnam with 10,451 trading companies. Taegu and Kyoungpuk came in next with 6,080 trading companies there, while Taejon and Chungnam have only 2,241 firms. The increase in trading companies is explained in part by the abolition of the company registration and review process, in which potential trading companies would have to report to the government expressing their intent. The government would then either approve the formation of the company or decline the application. The new system, effective as of January 2000, allows new companies to register without gntal review. The increase was also supported by the boom of individual small business since the Asian currency crisis.

Meanwhile, a total of 17,286 companies closed down and/or suspended operations due to failures in finding markets last year.