page_title: Skopje
section_title: Firms and activities
hierarchical_section_title: Skopje / Economy / Firms and activities
caption_attribution_description: Zeleno pazarce
context_page_description: Skopje is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre.
  The territory of Skopje has been inhabited since at least 4000 BC; remains of Neolithic settlements have been found within the old Kale Fortress that overlooks the modern city centre. Originally a Paeonian city, Scupi became the capital of Dardania in the second century BC. On the eve of the 1st century AD, the settlement was seized by the Romans and became a military camp. When the Roman Empire was divided into eastern and western halves in 395 AD, Scupi came under Byzantine rule from Constantinople. During much of the early medieval period, the town was contested between the Byzantines and the Bulgarian Empire, whose capital it was between 972 and 992.
  From 1282, the town was part of the Serbian Empire, and acted as its capital city from 1346 to 1371. In 1392, Skopje was conquered by the Ottoman Turks, who called it Üsküb, with this name also being in use in English for a time. The town stayed under Ottoman control for over 500 years, serving as the capital of pashasanjak of Üsküp and later the Vilayet of Kosovo.
context_section_description: In 2009, Skopje had 26,056 firms but only 145 of them had a large size. The large majority of them are either small (12,017) or very small (13,625). A large share of the firms deal with trade of goods (9,758), 3,839 are specialized in business and real estate, and 2,849 are manufacturers. Although few in number, large firms account for 51% of the local production outside finance.
  The city industry is dominated by food processing, textile, printing and metal processing. In 2012, it accounted for 30% of the city GDP. Most of the industrial areas are located in Gazi Baba municipality, on the major routes and rail lines to Belgrade and Thessaloniki. Notably, the ArcelorMittal and Makstil steel plants are located there, and also the Skopje Brewery. Other zones are located between Aerodrom and Kisela Voda, along the railway to Greece. These zones comprise Alkaloid Skopje (pharmaceuticals), Rade Končar (electrical supplies), Imperial Tobacco, and Ohis (fertilizers). Two special economic zones also exist, around the airport and the Okta refinery. They have attracted several foreign companies, such as Johnson Controls, Johnson Matthey and Van Hool.
  As the country's financial capital, Skopje is the seat of the Macedonian Stock Exchange, of the National Bank and of most of the North Macedonian banking, insurance and telecommunication companies, such as Makedonski Telekom, Komercijalna banka Skopje and Stopanska Banka. The services sector produces 60% of the city GDP.
  Besides many small traditional shops, Skopje has two large markets, the "Zelen Pazar" (green market) and the "Bit Pazar" (flea market). They are both considered as local institutions. However, since the 1970s, retailing has largely been modernized and Skopje now has many supermarkets and shopping centres. The largest, Skopje City Mall, opened in 2012. It comprises a Carrefour hypermarket, 130 shops and a cinema, and employs 2,000 people.
caption: The Zelen Pazar ("green market")
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