"SME Subcontract Transaction Fairness Recovering... Visible Effects of the Linkage System"

Transaction Fairness Index Up 2.61 Points Year-on-Year
Overall Improvement in Contract, Pricing, and Delivery Conditions

The Korea Federation of SMEs announced the results of the "2025 SME Subcontract Transaction Fairness Survey," which was conducted on 407 small and medium-sized enterprises on December 30, 2025.

This survey targeted industries with a high proportion of SMEs engaged in manufacturing subcontract transactions. The Transaction Fairness Index, calculated based on this survey, is a figure developed by the Korea Federation of SMEs to quantitatively measure and analyze the level of fairness perceived by SMEs in subcontract transactions.

According to the survey results, the Transaction Fairness Index for all industries in 2025 was 80.53, an increase of 2.61 points compared to the previous year. Considering that this survey was conducted on subcontract transactions in 2024, the Korea Federation of SMEs interpreted that the implementation of the supply price linkage system, which was fully enforced in October 2023, had a positive impact on the industry as a whole.

By industry, there were increases compared to the previous year in sectors such as Others (from 75.67 to 83.26), Automotive (from 76.79 to 78.96), and Rubber, Plastics & Non-metallics (from 77.35 to 79.42). In particular, in sectors such as textiles, apparel, and other categories, the indices for "Contract & Price Negotiation" (from 70.91 to 78.39) and "Delivery Conditions" (from 80.04 to 86.82) showed improvement.

Yang Chanhoe, Head of the Innovation Growth Division at the Korea Federation of SMEs, stated, "In particular, the level of transaction fairness has risen in small-scale sectors such as textiles, apparel, paper, and printing, which have been struggling due to high inflation, a strong exchange rate, and increases in the minimum wage. Due to the high proportion of small businesses in these industries, their bargaining power for pricing is low. In a situation where costs have surged because of imported raw materials, the supply price linkage system is estimated to have had a positive effect on contract and price negotiations as well as improvements in delivery conditions."