Foreign companies in the Rhineland INFORMATION ABOUT THE PUBLISHERS Hamburg Published by Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IHK) Aachen, Germany; Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IHK) Bonn/Rhein-Sieg, Germany; Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IHK) Düsseldorf, Germany; Bremen Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IHK) Köln, Germany; Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IHK) Mittlerer Niederrhein, Germany; Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IHK) Wuppertal-Remscheid- POLAND Solingen, Germany; Niederrhein Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IHK) Duisburg-Wesel-Kleve, Germany (Contacts and addresses see on page 14) GERMANY Berlin Amsterdam Authors | Editors: Daniel Boss, Düsseldorf; Manfred Meis, Meis Medienservice, Nettetal; Claudia Masbach, IHK Aachen; The Hague Armin Heider, IHK Bonn/Rhein-Sieg; Robert Butschen, IHK Düsseldorf; Christoph Hanke, IHK Köln; THE NETHERLANDS Jörg Raspe, IHK Mittlerer Niederrhein; Beatrice Achim, IHK Wuppertal; Dr. Thomas Hanicke, Rotterdam Niederrheinische IHK Duisburg-Wesel-Kleve. Duisburg Editor-in-chief: Robert Butschen | IHK Düsseldorf Krefeld Wuppertal ACCESSIBLE phone: +49 (0)211 3557-217 | fax: +49 0211 3557-412 | email: [email protected] (within a radius of 500 km): Antwerp Düsseldorf approx. 150 million consumers Translation: RSH Management & Consulting GmbH, Düsseldorf, Gemany Cologne Brussels Aachen Bonn Design: 360° Design, Ulrike Wiest, Krefeld, Gemany BELGIUM Printed by: Druckstudio GmbH, Düsseldorf, Gemany Frankfurt As at: December 2016 Luxembourg CZECH REPUBLIC FRANCE OBJECTIVE Paris This survey is designed to show that the Rhineland is truly international due to the large number of foreign companies that are members of the Stuttgart Chambers of Commerce and Industry, which are collaborating in the „Rheinland Initiative“, in this case the Chambers of Aachen, Bonn/Rhein-Sieg, Düsseldorf, Duisburg, Köln, Mittlerer Niederrhein and Wuppertal-Solingen-Remscheid. The foreign companies associated with the Chambers of Commerce and Industry are made up of foreign companies registered in the official commercial register and small businesses led by foreign nationals. The Chambers of the „Rheinland Initiative“ are promoting the enhancement of the traffic infrastructure, regional concepts to create qualified jobs and Rhineland Region a future-orientated policy on industry and real estate. They support the optimizing of networks with R&D institutions and the increase of potentials in Munich manufacturing industries, trade, logistics, tourism, hotel and catering industry, trade fair and event business. All this contributes to the promotion of AUSTRIA the Metropolregion Rhineland as a national and international business location. SWITZERLAND Fig. 1 Location of the Rhineland within Germany und Europe SOURCES CONTENTS MARKUS database of Creditreform AG, Neuss, Germany, 2016 Foreign companies in the Rhineland: Key facts 4 Databases of members maintained by Chambers of Commerce and Industry in the Rhineland, Germany, 2016 The Rhineland: A strong economy and truly cosmopolitan 5 Ausländische Bevölkerung in Nordrhein-Westfalen am 31. Dezember 2015 Landesbetrieb Information und Technik Nordrhein-Westfalen (IT.NRW), statistics division, Düsseldorf, Germany, 2016 Trade comes first: both for registered companies and small companies alike 8 Konjunkturbarometer Rheinland Herbst 2016 Chambers of Commerce and Industry in the Rhineland, Germany, 2016 Remarkable diversity: Companies come from over 160 countries 10 Close-up: The districts covered by the seven Chambers of Commerce and Industry in the Rhineland 12 All the information provided in this brochure has been collated and drafted with the utmost care. The Chamber of Commerce and Industry Düsseldorf Contacts and addresses 14 does not provide any guarantees in respect of the accuracy and completeness of the content nor is it liable for any interim changes. Reprints, including extracts, are permitted only if the source is acknowledged. Specimen copy requested. 2 Foreign companies in the Rhineland Foreign companies in the Rhineland 3 FOREIGN COMPANIES IN THE RHINELAND: THE RHINELAND: KEY FACTS A STRONG ECONOMY AND TRULY COSMOPOLITAN The seven Chambers of Commerce and Industry in the Rhineland have 539,602 member companies. Of these 55,475 have a foreign shareholder or owner. populated areas within the state with almost 50 per- Or put another way, more than one in ten companies is foreign-owned. Kleve cent of the latter figure, i.e. 8.6 million inhabitants. Kleve Wesel District Some 1,246,900 inhabitants of the Rhineland (14.5 per- Wesel District cent) are from abroad, compared to 12.3 percent for Of these foreign companies, 13,055 are entered in the commercial register, Duisburg NRW. Krefeld while the remaining 42,420 are small companies. Mettmann District Viersen Düsseldorf Wuppertal The Turks, with approximately 262,800 inhabitants District Neuss Mönchengladbach (more than 20 percent), make up the biggest commu- Rhine Remscheid nity amongst the non-German population. They are Heinsberg County of Solingen Neuss The capital and the businesspeople themselves come from more than District Bergisch-Gladbach followed by Poles (105,400), Italians (85,600), Greeks Leverkusen Rhein- Oberberg Rhein-Erft Berg District (55,300) and the Dutch (48,700). These five groups 160 nations, spanning the globe from A for Australia to Z for Zimbabwe. District District Düren Cologne together account for almost half of all foreigners liv- Aachen District Rhein-Sieg ing in the Rhineland area. District Bonn Cities Association of Aachen The Netherlands tops the list of foreign companies registered Euskirchen District Rhine followed by the USA and Switzerland. Tab. 1 Foreign national residents in the Rhineland POPULATION AS AT 31.12.2015 Non-Germans Total REGION NUMBER % With respect to small companies, Polish entrepreneurs have a slight edge over Turkish IHK Aachen 144,800 1,240,400 11.7 Städteregion Aachen 78,900 533,900 14.8 business people, who in turn are more numerous than the Italians, Romanians and Greeks. In the context of this brochure the Rhineland is de- Düren District 25,600 262,800 9.7 fined as the districts covered by the Chambers of Euskirchen District 11,100 191,200 5.8 Commerce and Industry for Aachen, Bonn / Rhein- Heinsberg District 29,200 252,500 11.6 Sieg, Düsseldorf, Köln, Mittlerer Niederrhein, Wupper- IHK Bonn / Rhein-Sieg 108,800 915,000 11.9 Preferred sectors for those companies registered are trade (4,312) and freelance, scientific tal-Solingen-Remscheid and Niederrhein IHK in Duis- Bonn 51,500 318,800 16.2 burg. The main cities in this economically powerful Rhein-Sieg District 57,300 596,200 9.6 and technical services including legal advice, tax consultancy, market research etc. (2,377). IHK Düsseldorf 205,200 1,095,500 18.8 region are Aachen, Bonn, Düsseldorf, Duisburg, Moers, Düsseldorf 144,100 612,200 23.5 Cologne, Leverkusen, Bergisch Gladbach, Krefeld, Mettmann District 61,100 483,300 12.6 Mönchengladbach, Neuss, Wuppertal, Solingen and IHK Duisburg 175,300 1,264,200 13.9 Trade is also the top sector for small companies (10,193), followed by Remscheid. Duisburg 93,400 491,200 19.0 Kleve District 40,200 462,700 8.7 construction (6,996) and the hotel and catering industry (6,327). The economic strength of the Rhineland is impres- Wesel District 41,700 310,300 13.4 sively documented by official statistics. With a gross IHK Köln 354,200 2,247,000 15.8 Cologne 214,600 1,060,600 20.2 domestic product (GDP) of € 332 billion (2014) the Leverkusen 24,400 163,500 14.9 Rhineland generated more than 11 percent of the Fed- Rhein-Erft District 62,800 466,700 13.5 eral German GDP (€ 2,916 billion). Furthermore the Rhein-Berg District 26,500 282,700 9.4 productivity of the 3.2 million people in employment Oberberg District 25,900 272,500 9.5 (03 / 2016) lies at approximately 10 percent above the IHK Mittlerer Niederrhein 154,400 1,232,800 12.5 German average. This is reflected in the disposable in- Krefeld 34,500 225,100 15.3 Mönchengladbach 37,300 260,000 14.3 come. For example, figures produced by MB-Research, Rhine County of Neuss 57,400 450,000 12.8 an international market research company, show that Viersen District 25,200 297,700 8.5 purchasing power stands at 4 percent (2016) above IHK Wuppertal 104,200 618,200 16.9 the Federal German average (104 to 100). Wuppertal 62,000 350,000 17.7 Solingen 17,700 109,500 16.2 Germany has a total population of approximately 82 Remscheid 24,500 158,700 15.4 Rhineland total 1,246,900 8,613,100 14.5 million and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia 2,207,200 17,865,500 12.3 (NRW), the country‘s most populous state, 17.9 mil- lion. The Rhineland in turn is one of the most densely Source: IT.NRW – statistics division. Düsseldorf 31.12.2015) 4 Foreign companies in the Rhineland Foreign companies in the Rhineland 5 THE RHINELAND: A STRONG ECONOMY AND TRULY COSMOPOLITAN There are many sound reasons for the Rhineland`s in- Cologne, Düsseldorf, Duisburg, Jülich, Krefeld, Mön- ternationalism. For example entrepreneurs can safely Tab. 2 Foreign companies in the Rhineland chengladbach and Wupper tal maintain close links assume that they will find a first-class infrastructure with industry and some businesses also run their own TYPE OF COMPANY BREAKDOWN with a comprehensive network of motorways and rail- research facilities. ways, efficient inland ports and three international Ratio of foreign companies airports operating out of Düsseldorf, Cologne / Bonn to all companies Düsseldorf and Cologne are also the venues for many Number %-value in the Rhineland in % and Weeze. What‘s more, neighbouring countries, of the world’s leading trade fairs. Finally, the high such as the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Small companies 42,420 76.5 11.6 standard of living should not be overlooked. This is a France, are just a stone‘s throw away. State-of-the- Companies registered in the 13,055 23.5 7.4 great place to live with a wealth of culture and diver- art data connections complete the outstanding infra- official register of companies se landscapes – not to mention the famously friendly structure of the Rhineland.