74% of Mid-sized Companies Expect Export Performance Growth in the Second Half of This Year

Expansion of Trade Finance and Strengthening of Supply Chain Support
Need to Enhance Support for Export Promotion

Seventy-four percent of mid-sized companies expected their export performance in the second half of this year to expand compared to the first half. Companies forecasting an increase of more than 10% accounted for 22%.

The Korea Federation of Mid-sized Enterprises disclosed the results of the "2023 Second Half Mid-sized Enterprises Export Outlook and Difficulties Survey," including this information, on the 24th. This survey was conducted from June 12 to July 4, targeting 123 mid-sized exporting companies.

Mid-sized companies cited "economic recovery (47.3%)" and "sales growth in newly entered regions (26.4%)" as factors for their export expansion outlook. By industry, the proportion of mid-sized companies expecting export growth was highest in the following order: automobiles and trailers (90.0%), machinery and equipment (80.0%), wholesale and retail trade (78.6%), food and beverages (77.8%), and electronic components and telecommunications equipment (75.0%).

Mid-sized companies expecting a decline in export performance accounted for 26.0%. The main concerns were identified as "continued global economic slowdown (75.0%)," "trade barriers such as customs clearance and certification (9.4%)," and "rising raw material prices (9.4%)."

Seventy-seven point two percent of mid-sized companies were found to have entered at least three countries. The major export markets were the United States (38.2%), China (15.4%), Japan (11.4%), Vietnam (10.6%), and Europe (8.9%) in that order. The difficulties experienced in export countries included "administrative regulations such as customs clearance (30.1%)," import restrictions such as anti-dumping, countervailing duties, and safeguards (22.8%), "lack of local legal information (17.9%)," and "technical regulations such as certification (16.3%)."

Forty-six point three percent of exporting mid-sized companies responded that they have plans to enter new markets. Among them, about two-thirds stated their target period as from the second half of this year to the second half of next year. Reasons for pioneering new markets included existing market saturation (36.8%), business expansion (19.3%), securing strategic locations (17.5%), and strengthening collaboration with trading partners (17.5%). However, the response that information on newly entered markets is "insufficient (47.4%)" exceeded the response that it is "sufficient (8.8%)" by more than five times.

Mid-sized businesspeople identified necessary support policies for export revitalization as "expansion of trade finance such as guarantees (26.1%)," "strengthening supply chain support (25.2%)," and "export marketing support (13.0%)." Lee Ho-jun, the full-time vice chairman of the Korea Federation of Mid-sized Enterprises, said, "Following the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy’s third-quarter mid-sized enterprise economic outlook survey, which recorded a rising export outlook index for three consecutive quarters, it is very encouraging that mid-sized exporters in all industries expect export performance to expand in the second half in this survey as well." He emphasized, "Since mid-sized companies, which account for only 1.4% of all companies, are responsible for 17.3% of total exports, we will actively communicate to ensure that government policy support for enhancing the export competitiveness of mid-sized companies?such as expanding trade finance, supporting supply chains and logistics, and establishing overseas market information sharing systems?can be expanded."

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