Small and Medium Enterprises in Gwangju and Jeonnam Face 'Dark Clouds' Over Economic Outlook Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Jin-hyung] The Small and Medium Business Outlook Health Index for September in the Gwangju and Jeonnam regions was 76.5, which was below the national average.

On the 30th, the Gwangju-Jeonnam Regional Headquarters of the Korea Federation of SMEs conducted a business outlook survey from the 17th to the 24th targeting 206 local small and medium enterprises.

Local SMEs viewed the business outlook pessimistically due to the sharp rise in raw material prices and difficulties in shipping and logistics.

In particular, the fourth wave of COVID-19 significantly contributed to domestic demand contraction, negatively affecting business sentiment.

▲June 89.2 ▲July 87.6 ▲August 79.5, including the outlook for next month, this marks four consecutive months of decline.

By region, Gwangju fell by 1.5 points to 75.2 compared to the previous month, and Jeonnam dropped by 5.4 points to 78.6.

By industry, manufacturing was 84.6, down 0.7 points from the previous month, and non-manufacturing fell 5.7 points to 68.1.

Outlooks for domestic sales (78.5→74.5), exports (83.3→81.0), operating profit (75.4→68.9), and financial conditions (74.6→70.1) all declined compared to the previous month, indicating an overall slight deterioration in the economy.

Employment (99.5→100.0) was expected to show a somewhat excessive state compared to the previous month.

The main management difficulties were dominated by sluggish domestic demand (61.7%), followed by rising raw material prices (49.0%), increased labor costs (49.0%), and excessive competition among companies (46.6%).

The average operating rate of small and medium manufacturing enterprises was 69.5%, showing a decline of 0.4 percentage points from the previous month (69.9%).

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