September SME Production Shows Improvement Trend in Both Manufacturing and Service Industries

Small and Medium Business Institute Announces 'KOSBI Small Business Trends November 2020 Issue'

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] In September, small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) production showed improvement trends in both manufacturing and service sectors. On the 29th, the Korea Small Business Institute (President Lee Byung-heon) announced the 'KOSBI SME Trends November 2020 issue' containing this information.

According to the KOSBI SME Trends, in September, manufacturing production increased by +7.1% compared to the same month last year, rising 14.5 percentage points from the previous month (-7.4%), and the service sector recorded -2.0% compared to the same month last year, showing a moderated decline from the previous month (-6.1%).

The October business sentiment index rose for SMEs, small business owners, and traditional markets compared to the previous month. The SME performance index (72.1) increased by 5.4 points from the previous month, while the small business owners (78.0) and traditional market sentiment index (73.3) rose by 23.1 points and 8.2 points respectively compared to the previous month.

Retail sales in September increased by 6.1% year-on-year, driven mainly by non-store retail (+40.5%) and supermarkets/general merchandise stores (+11.2%), expanding the growth margin. In particular, non-store retail sales reached 9.0977 trillion won, marking the highest figure since 2015.

The number of employees in SMEs with fewer than 300 employees in October was 24.361 million, down by 479,000 compared to the same month last year. The decline widened compared to the previous month. Self-employed workers decreased by 78,000 year-on-year, mainly among those with employees.

The Korea Small Business Institute explained that since mid-September, indicators such as production, business sentiment, and consumption showed signs of recovery due to the easing of social distancing measures; however, with the implementation of level 2 social distancing in the Seoul metropolitan area from the 24th, business damage to self-employed workers is inevitable, so it is necessary to closely monitor future economic indicators.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.