Editor’s Note
**Editor’s Note:** This report highlights a notable trend: the number of corporate closures and dissolutions rose across all seven major industries for the third straight year in 2025, with construction leading. The data underscores persistent economic pressures, including the impact of rising gold prices on jewelry wholesalers.
1/9 (Fri) 11:20 JST
Corporate closures and dissolutions increased across all 7 industries for the third consecutive year, with the construction sector recording the highest number.
In 2025, the number of companies (including sole proprietors) that suspended operations, closed, or dissolved nationwide reached 67,949. By industry, all seven sectors (excluding “Other”) saw an increase from the previous year. This marks the third consecutive year (following 2023 and 2024) that all seven industries have posted year-on-year increases. The construction industry recorded the highest number at 8,217 cases, up 0.7% year-on-year, the second-highest in the past decade after 2016 (8,420 cases). The services sector posted the highest growth rate at 8,165 cases (up 7.0% year-on-year), followed by manufacturing at 3,310 cases (up 6.0%).
The transportation and communications sector saw 715 cases (up 1.7%), with a notable increase in trucking-related businesses, reaching a decade high. Manufacturing also exceeded 2024’s 3,122 cases, hitting a ten-year peak.
By sub-industry, the highest year-on-year increase was in “precious metal product wholesaling” (including jewelry wholesalers), with 60 cases, up 62.2% — a surge exceeding 60%. This sharp rise is attributed to soaring procurement costs for gold, silver, and platinum, which are traded as safe-haven assets, coupled with stagnating sales to Chinese tourists who had previously driven the industry. Even with higher unit prices, sales volumes did not grow, leaving many wholesalers with thin or no profits. On the retail side, jewelry stores face declining orders due to the rise of online sales, direct manufacturer-to-consumer models, and the growing prevalence of second-hand market purchases from consumers. Succession issues and closures among jewelry retailers also contributed to reduced orders, leading many jewelry wholesalers to shut down amid uncertainty.
Following precious metal wholesaling, “film and video production” saw 61 cases (up 56.4% year-on-year). While live events have revived post-COVID, boosting related video production, the industry faces headwinds from declining TV viewership, structural changes in advertising spending, and increased competition from evolving video editing software. Severe labor shortages, especially in animation and commercial production, have led to heavy reliance on outsourcing, squeezing profit margins between falling unit prices and rising costs. This has driven many small and medium-sized video production firms to close or dissolve.
The largest decline was in “formwork carpentry” (71 cases, down 23.7%), followed by “other general machinery and equipment wholesaling” (80 cases, down 22.3%) and “plumbing, heating, refrigeration equipment and accessories wholesaling” (69 cases, down 17.9%).
Last updated: 1/13 (Tue) 13:32 JST
Teikoku Databank