30% Drop in Number of New Cooperatives

A total of 229 new cooperatives were registered during the fourth month of the current Iranian year (June 22-July 22), which shows a 30% decline compared with the corresponding period of last year, latest data released by the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare's Statistics and Strategic Data Center show.
With 3,480 members, these cooperatives are estimated to have created 4,275 jobs, indicating a 19% fall and a 4% increase respectively year-on-year.
The highest number of cooperatives was registered in the provinces of Fars and Khorasan Razavi with 28 and 20 companies respectively.
Most cooperatives were registered in the fields of agriculture (68) and industries (55). The two fields also had the largest number of members among others with 962 and 783 respectively. 
Combined, they are estimated to have generated the highest number of jobs with 1,339 and 629 respectively.
A cooperative is a jointly-owned enterprise engaged 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 models. 
Cooperatives frequently pursue social goals and invest a proportion of trading profits back into their communities.
According to Bahman Abdollahi, the head of Iran Chamber of Cooperatives, the current share of Iran's cooperative sector from GDP is around 7%. 
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 (2021).