The Small Business Health Index (SBHI) for September is projected to be 84.8, an increase of 4.8 points from the previous month.
The Korea Federation of SMEs conducted a survey from August 12 to 19 involving 3,060 small businesses, revealing this improvement. Following a rise from 78.2 in July to 80.0 in August, the index has now increased for two consecutive months.
The SBHI quantifies the economic trends and outlook perceived by small businesses. A score above 100 indicates that more companies view the economic outlook positively than negatively, while a score below 100 indicates the opposite.
According to the survey, the manufacturing sector rose by 7.0 points to 87.1, while the non-manufacturing sector increased by 3.7 points to 83.7. In manufacturing, 19 out of 20 sectors improved compared to August, particularly non-metallic mineral products (64.0 to 81.2) and beverages (91.5 to 107.5). However, four sectors, including industrial machinery and equipment repair (91.0 to 76.2) and leather goods and footwear (82.6 to 75.0), saw declines.
In the non-manufacturing sector, the service industry (81.8 to 87.3) improved from the previous month, while the construction industry (71.1 to 65.7) declined. Within the service sector, eight industries, including arts, sports, and leisure services (70.9 to 93.7) and wholesale and retail (78.9 to 86.1), showed improvement, but two sectors, transportation (85.4 to 82.7) and accommodation and food services (87.4 to 86.3), experienced decreases.
By category, expectations for exports (87.3 to 94.2), domestic sales (79.7 to 83.8), operating profit (77.6 to 81.5), and financial conditions (79.9 to 81.8) all indicate improvement from the previous month. Employment, which has shown a downward trend (95.5 to 94.8), is also expected to improve.
Meanwhile, the average operating rate for small manufacturers in July was 75.2%, a decrease of 0.7 percentage points from the previous month. Small enterprises saw a drop from 71.6% to 71.2%, while medium-sized enterprises fell from 78.4% to 77.6%, a decrease of 0.4 and 0.8 percentage points, respectively. By type, general manufacturing decreased from 76.0% to 75.2%, and innovative manufacturing dropped from 75.6% to 75.3%.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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