Suwon City Increases Support Funds and Expands Supported Companies for SME Export Insurance

Suwon City Hall

The city of Suwon in Gyeonggi Province is increasing the export insurance support fund for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to 2 million won and expanding the number of supported companies to 50.

On the 8th, Suwon announced that it will raise the export credit guarantee (before and after shipment) and short-term export insurance premium support amount from 1 million won per company to 2 million won starting this year.

Export insurance protects exporters from risks such as deterioration of the importer's credit, bankruptcy, and refusal of payment during export transactions. It is managed by the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation, a government-funded institution under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

The export insurance support targets small and medium-sized manufacturing companies located in Suwon that have completed export contracts with foreign buyers.

The city will also expand the number of companies supported by export insurance from 20 last year to 50 this year.

The main support items include ▲ export financing for procurement of raw and subsidiary materials for export before and after shipment ▲ short-term export insurance (payment guarantee for export proceeds within a credit period of up to 2 years) ▲ group export insurance (payment guarantee for export proceeds up to USD 50,000).

The support fund includes group insurance (up to 300,000 won). Companies not using group insurance will receive up to 1.7 million won in support.

Since 2009, the city has been supporting the cost of export insurance subscriptions for SMEs and startups located in the city. Last year, 26 export insurance cases were supported for 23 companies. The total guarantee amount was 245 million USD (approximately 311.1 billion won).

A city official emphasized, "To revitalize corporate attraction, we have doubled the support amount and the number of target companies," adding, "We will support small and medium-sized manufacturing companies to expand their export base and create a vibrant special economic city."