Survey of 3,061 SMEs from May 16-23
Last Month's Management Difficulties: Domestic Demand Slump 62.9%
The Small and Medium Business Index (SBHI) for June rose by 0.2 points from the previous month to 79.4.
The Korea Federation of SMEs announced on the 30th the results of the 'June 2024 Small and Medium Business Outlook Survey' conducted from the 16th to the 23rd of last month, targeting 3,061 small and medium enterprises.
The business outlook index for June was 79.4, showing a slight increase of 0.2 points compared to the previous month, indicating a firm trend, but it fell by 1.7 points compared to the same month last year.
The manufacturing sector's June business outlook rose by 1.0 point from the previous month to 84.2, while the non-manufacturing sector remained steady at 77.4. During the same period, construction (79.3) increased by 2.4 points, whereas services (77.0) declined by 0.5 points.
Compared to the previous month, in manufacturing, 13 industries rose, led by medical substances and pharmaceuticals (9.2 points), chemicals and chemical products (7.5 points), and fabricated metal products (7.5 points). Conversely, 10 industries fell, including printing and reproduction of recorded media (13.6 points) and industrial machinery and equipment repair (12.9 points).
The biggest management difficulty for SMEs last month was sluggish domestic demand (62.9%). This was followed by rising labor costs (50.1%), excessive competition among companies (34.8%), and rising raw material prices (32.3%).
Looking at the trend in management difficulties compared to the previous month, sluggish domestic demand increased by 0.7 percentage points, and rising labor costs increased by 1.0 percentage point. Meanwhile, excessive competition among companies decreased by 0.7 percentage points, and high interest rates fell by 2.2 percentage points.
The average operating rate of small and medium manufacturing enterprises in April was 71.8%, down 0.3 percentage points from the previous month and 0.1 percentage points from the same month last year. By company size, small enterprises decreased by 0.2 percentage points and medium enterprises by 0.5 percentage points compared to the previous month.
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