Small and Medium Enterprise Products Achieve 127 Trillion Won in Public Procurement in 2023

Highest Amount Since the 2006 System Implementation

The purchase amount of small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) products by public institutions reached an all-time high since the system was implemented in 2006.

On the 23rd, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced at the Cabinet meeting that the purchase amount of SME products by public institutions in 2023 was 127.3 trillion KRW, significantly exceeding the initial purchase plan of 118.4 trillion KRW.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

According to the Ministry, under Article 5 of the "Act on the Promotion of Purchase and Sales of Small and Medium Enterprise Products" (hereinafter referred to as the Purchase Promotion Act), public institutions required to fulfill the SME product purchase target (50% of total purchases) recorded a purchase amount of 127.3 trillion KRW in 2023, the highest since the system was introduced in 2006.

There are 20 institutions recognized as ‘Outstanding Institutions for SME Product Purchases,’ which have an SME product purchase ratio of over 85% and purchase performance exceeding 300 billion KRW. These include Daejeon Metropolitan Office of Education, Ministry of Education, and Goyang Special City in Gyeonggi Province. Among these, the Daejeon Metropolitan Office of Education increased its SME product purchase amount by approximately 150 billion KRW (42%↑) compared to 2022, and the Ministry of Education increased by about 290 billion KRW (27%↑). The public institution with the highest SME product purchase performance last year was the Ministry of Education, spending approximately 1.4147 trillion KRW.

Meanwhile, the total SME product purchase target amount submitted by public institutions to the Ministry of SMEs and Startups for 2024 is 119.1 trillion KRW, which is about 75% of the total purchase amount of all institutions.

The Ministry plans to continuously hold public procurement system briefings and purchase promotion exchange meetings in 2024, conduct performance inspections through surveys, and encourage institutions with low purchase amounts to increase their purchases, thereby guiding them to achieve their targets.

Choi Won-young, Director of Global Growth Policy at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, stated, “We express our gratitude to the public institutions that cooperated to achieve the record-high public procurement performance of SME products in 2023, and we will actively strive to ensure that public procurement plans are carried out smoothly through cooperation with public institutions this year as well.”