Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation, 90% of Purchases from SMEs... Exceeding Mandatory Ratio for 6 Consecutive Years

Provided by Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation announced on the 19th that it exceeded the mandatory purchase ratio of small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) products (50%) for six consecutive years by using 90% of the total purchase amount last year for SME products.

Earlier, to promote mutual growth with SMEs last year, the Minting Corporation significantly expanded the public purchase amount of products from women-owned businesses, social enterprises, and cooperatives by utilizing the public procurement system for SME products.

Through this, the purchase amount of women-owned business products increased about twofold from 6.2 billion KRW in 2018 to 12.116 billion KRW in 2019, accounting for 12.7% of the total purchase amount last year. Additionally, the purchase amount of products from social enterprises and cooperatives also expanded from 697 million KRW to 879 million KRW during the same period.

Riding this momentum, the Minting Corporation plans to achieve 90% public procurement of SME products for the seventh consecutive year this year, aiming to purchase at least 3% and 0.1% of the total planned purchase amount from social enterprises and cooperative products, respectively. Furthermore, products produced by persons with severe disabilities will be prioritized for purchase at 1% or more of the total planned purchase amount, and women-owned business products at 5% or more.

The mandatory purchase ratio means that, according to the ‘Act on the Promotion of Purchase of Small and Medium Enterprise Products and Support for Market Development,’ public enterprises are required to purchase 50% or more of the cost of goods or services needed from SME products.

Han Man-gyu, head of the Procurement Strategy Team at the Minting Corporation, said, “We operate a dedicated team to activate public procurement,” and added, “The Minting Corporation plans to fulfill the social responsibility of public enterprises by supporting the expansion of sales channels for SME products.”