Japan’s Business Failures in October 2023
(Released by TEIKOKU DATABANK, LTD.)
Second-highest number of bankruptcies and amount of liabilities this year
Annual bankruptcies return to pre-pandemic levels
| Bankruptcies |
790 |
| Year-to-Year basis |
＋33.0％ |
| Last Year same month |
594 |
| Liabilities |
305,584 million yen |
| Year-to-Year basis |
＋279.0％ |
| Last Year same month |
80,626 million yen |
Highlight and Outstanding Feature
- ■There were 790 bankruptcies (594 in the same month of the previous year, up 33.0%). It was the second-highest number of cases this year after March (800 bankruptcies), marking 18 consecutive months of year-on-year growth. The total number of bankruptcies in the period of January–October 2023 was 6,918, which is already higher than the full year of 2022 (6,376) and close to the pre-COVID-19 level.
- ■Liabilities totaled 305,584 million yen (80,626 million yen in the same month of the previous year, up 279.0%), marking the second consecutive month of year-on-year increase. A large bankruptcy of the Gaia Group boosted the overall number of bankruptcies, and the figure reached the second-highest this year.
- ■By industry, the number of bankruptcies increased year-on-year in all seven industries. The number of bankruptcies in the construction industry (to 162 from 97 in the same month of the previous year, up 67.0%) topped 160 in October for the first time in nine years, the highest this year and boosted the overall number. Bankruptcies of companies involved in “road freight forwarding” totaled 251 in January–October, exceeding the total for all of 2022.
- ■In terms of primary cause, recession-induced bankruptcies were up 100 or more year-on-year for the ninth consecutive month.
- ■By type, the number of cases of special liquidation surpassed the same month of the previous year for the sixth consecutive month, the first time this had happened in about 18 years.
- ■By size, there were 13 bankruptcies of companies with liabilities of 50 billion yen or more, and the increase in large-scale bankruptcies was conspicuous.
- ■By business history, there were 241 bankruptcies of start-up companies, and this marked 20 consecutive months of year-on-year increase.
- ■By region, eight of nine regions experienced year-on-year increases. Among them, bankruptcies in Kanto (to 302 from 194, up 55.7% year-on-year) exceeded 300 for the first time in three years and three months since July 2020 (315 cases). And 29 prefectures, accounting for more than half of the total as of October, saw bankruptcies exceed the total number for the full year of 2022.
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