Busan Companies Can't Even Compete... Only 1.4% of Sales Among Top 1000 Nationwide Firms

Among the Top 1000 Nationwide Companies by Sales, Only 34 Are from Busan, the Second Largest City... Half of Them Are Outside the Top 500
Total Sales of 34 Companies: 31.7845 Trillion KRW, 2.2% of Seoul, 55% of Incheon, 61.3% of Gyeongnam
Busan's To

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] The future of Busan's economy looks bleak. The status of regional companies representing Busan is shrinking day by day, according to a recent investigation.

Among these companies, it is also difficult to find firms in new industry sectors with growth potential such as semiconductors, bio, and eco-friendly energy, deepening concerns about the regional economy on a nationwide scale.

The Busan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Chairman Heo Yong-do) released on the 17th an analysis result titled “Status of Busan Companies among the Top 1000 Companies Nationwide by Sales in 2019,” based on corporate information from the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system and NICE Credit Rating Agency.

According to this, among the top 1000 companies nationwide by sales in 2019, only 34 were Busan companies. Half of these, 17 companies, ranked outside the top 500 in sales.

Furthermore, the total sales of these 34 companies amounted to only 31.7845 trillion KRW, accounting for just 1.4% of the total sales of the top 1000 companies nationwide. This is a poor performance compared to Incheon (57.4289 trillion KRW) at 55% and Gyeongnam (51.8153 trillion KRW) at 61%, reflecting the current status of Busan companies.

In particular, among these representative Busan companies, the proportion of firms in new industry sectors such as semiconductors, bio, eco-friendly energy, and Green New Deal industries?sectors gaining attention for growth potential amid the COVID-19 crisis?is very minimal.

Besides Air Busan entering the top 1000 companies nationwide in 2014 and Hyundai Global Service in 2018, it is difficult to find notable new companies.

Compared to 2018, MSA, a real estate development and implementation company, IMT Incorporation, a ship fuel supplier, and Taewoong, the world's number one forging company in wind power generation, newly entered the top 1000 companies nationwide by sales. However, three companies?real estate developer Gimhae Centum 2nd PFV, steel company Geumgang Industry, and Samjeong?fell out of the top 1000.

Renault Samsung Motors maintained its title as the top sales company in Busan in 2019 but ranked 94th nationwide in sales, dropping 17 places compared to 2018.

After the end of Nissan's outsourced production of the Rogue, failing to secure additional production volume, negative changes are expected this year even though it remains the only Busan company within the top 100 nationwide by sales.

Among the top 10 regional representative companies in Busan by sales ranking, companies whose nationwide sales rankings rose compared to 2018 include Changshin INC (304th → 271st), LCTY PFV (546th → 333rd), Hwasung Industry (452nd → 368th), and Hi Investment & Securities (449th → 373rd). Companies whose rankings fell include Renault Samsung Motors, Busan Bank (152nd → 155th), Hanjin Heavy Industries (216th → 234th), Seowon Distribution (233rd → 246th), and Sungwoo Hitech (308th → 310th).

The company with the largest increase in sales ranking in 2019 was Hyundai Global Service. Hyundai Global Service's ranking rose 387 places from 850th in 2018 to 463rd in 2019, driven by a significant increase in orders for ship exhaust gas scrubbers and eco-friendly facility retrofit projects.

The regional concentration phenomenon among the top 1000 companies nationwide by sales remains unchanged. In 2019, 754 of the top 1000 companies by sales were concentrated in the Seoul metropolitan area, including Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Incheon.

Additionally, among the top 100 companies nationwide by sales, 90 were concentrated in the metropolitan area, with 79 located in Seoul.

Comparing total sales by region, Busan companies' total sales of 31.7845 trillion KRW amount to only 2.2% of Seoul's 1467.5987 trillion KRW, which ranks first. In terms of average sales, Busan ranked 11th nationwide with 934.8 billion KRW, showing a significant drop in ranking and highlighting the urgent need to attract large corporations and foster medium-sized enterprises.

A Busan Chamber of Commerce official said, “To raise the sales scale and status of regional companies, it is necessary to actively expand industrial infrastructure for fostering new growth industries such as fintech, bio, and eco-friendly mobility. It is also urgent to establish bold incentive programs and regulatory improvement strategies to attract large and medium-sized enterprises that can drive the regional economy.”