A total of 261 cooperatives were registered during the seventh month of the current Iranian year (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) to register a 19% decline compared with the corresponding period of last year.
The figures were announced in the latest report released by the Statistics and Strategic Data Center of the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare.
The initial investment made in these cooperatives amounted to 85 billion rials ($755,555).
These cooperatives have 6,115 members and created 3,553 jobs, indicating a 22% rise and 20% fall respectively YOY.
The highest number of cooperatives was registered in the provinces of Fars and Khorasan Razavi with 19 companies each and the provinces of Khuzestan and Lorestan each with 17 companies.
The largest number of cooperatives was registered in the fields of “agriculture” (69) and “industries” (48).
The fields of “properties for rent and business activities” and “wholesale and retail” had the most members with 1,408 and 1,359 respectively.
The sectors of “construction” and “properties for rent and business activities” are also estimated to create the highest number of jobs with 703 and 693 respectively.
A cooperative is a jointly owned enterprise engaging in the production or distribution of goods or the supply of services, operated by its members for their mutual benefit, typically organized by consumers or farmers. Cooperative businesses are typically more economically resilient than many other forms of enterprise, with twice the number of cooperatives surviving their first five years compared with other business ownership models. They frequently pursue social goals by investing a proportion of trading profits back into their communities.
The parliament has tasked the government with increasing the share of cooperatives in gross domestic product to 25% by the end of the Sixth Five-Year Development Plan (2022).
According to Bahman Abdollahi the head of Iran Chamber of Cooperatives, the current share of cooperatives in GDP is around 7%.
