SME Sector "Introduce Rational Delivery Price Linkage System to Alleviate Management Difficulties of SMEs"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwak Minjae] The Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business held the ‘1st Fair Economy Committee Meeting of 2022’ at the Federation’s headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, and discussed the introduction plan of a reasonable delivery price linkage system on the 3rd.

At the meeting, the committee discussed the structural problem where small and medium enterprises (SMEs) bear the full burden of raw material price increases due to the gap in bargaining power between large and small businesses, as prices of raw materials such as steel ore, crude oil, and pulp have surged sharply.

At the meeting, Park Semyun, Director of Corporate Transaction Policy Division at the Fair Trade Commission, explained recent major policy issues related to the Subcontracting Act, including ▲ the delivery price adjustment consultation system ▲ guidance on reporting, mediation, and consultation for requests for technical data provision and misuse of technical data ▲ and the Fair Trade Commission’s policies to activate delivery price adjustments.

Professor Song Changseok of Soongsil University presented on the ‘Introduction Plan of a Reasonable Delivery Price Linkage System.’ Professor Song stated, “The existing adjustment consultation system has inherent limitations in long-term buyer-supplier relationships, and since raw material price surges will occur more frequently in the future, the introduction of a delivery price linkage system is absolutely necessary,” adding, “It is also necessary to improve and operate the currently implemented delivery payment adjustment system together.”

Yang Chanhwe, Head of the Innovation Growth Division at the Federation of Small and Medium Business, said, “If the increase in raw material prices is not continuously reflected in delivery payments, the management of SMEs will inevitably be severely constrained, which could also affect the national economy,” and added, “Receiving fair delivery prices has been a long-standing wish of SMEs, and we will actively strive to ensure that the delivery price linkage system to resolve this is introduced as soon as possible.”

Meanwhile, in the National Assembly, a bill to amend the Win-Win Cooperation Act related to the delivery price linkage system, which allows SMEs to reflect raw material price increases in delivery prices without separate requests, has been proposed and is under discussion as a solution to the continuously rising raw material prices.

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