The number of corporate bankruptcies in Japan increased in 2019 for the first time in 11 years, affected by a consumption tax hike, labor shortages and a series of natural disasters, a credit research agency said Tuesday.

Business failures with debts of at least 10 million yen rose 1.8 percent from the previous year to 8,383, the first increase since the 2008 global financial crisis, Tokyo Shoko Research said. About 90 percent of the bankrupt companies were small firms with fewer than 10 employees.

The total liabilities left by bankrupt companies, however, dropped 4.2 percent from a year earlier to 1.42 trillion yen, the lowest level in 30 years, as a majority of bankruptcies involved debts of less than 100 million yen, it said.

Among 10 sectors, agriculture, forestry, fisheries and mining saw the largest increase of 34.37 percent to 86 bankruptcy cases, followed by retail with an 8.65 percent rise to 1,230 and transportation up 6.72 percent at 254.

The Oct. 1 consumption tax hike to 10 percent from 8 percent slowed consumer spending, with retail sales in October falling 7.1 percent, the sharpest on-year drop in four years.