[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Jin-hyung] The Small and Medium Business Health Index (SBHI) for October rose by 12.3 points from the previous month to 88.8.

The Gwangju-Jeonnam Regional Headquarters of the Korea Federation of SMEs (Head Lee Chang-ho) conducted a business outlook survey from the 13th to the 23rd targeting 209 local small and medium enterprises.

As a result, after continuous declines of ▲87.6 in July ▲79.5 in August ▲76.5 in September, the index reversed to an increase for the first time in three months.

This is interpreted as reflecting positive expectations due to the expanded vaccine distribution and sustained export growth.

By region, Gwangju recorded 86.3, up 11.1 points from the previous month (75.2), and Jeonnam recorded 92.6, up 14.0 points from the previous month (78.6).

By industry, manufacturing rose 9.1 points from the previous month (84.6) to 93.7, and non-manufacturing rose 15.9 points from the previous month (68.1) to 84.0.

Outlooks for domestic sales (74.5→89.5), exports (81.0→91.2), operating profit (68.9→82.3), and financial conditions (70.1→82.1) all increased compared to the previous month.

The employment outlook (100.0→98.1), which is a counter-trend indicator, also improved (excess reduction) compared to the previous month. This index tends to decline during economic expansion and rise during economic contraction.

The main management difficulties for small and medium enterprises in Gwangju-Jeonnam in September were domestic demand slump (60.8%) as the highest proportion, followed by rising labor costs (50.7%), excessive competition among companies (47.8%), and rising raw material prices (47.4%).

The average operating rate of small and medium manufacturing enterprises in Gwangju-Jeonnam in August was 69.3%, down 0.2 percentage points from the previous month (69.5%).

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