The business sentiment index for January next year as felt by small and midsize enterprises was found at 79.3. It rose 11.2 points from a year earlier, but still stayed below 80, with many SMEs expecting the economy to worsen.
On the 30th, the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises said that in the results of the "January 2026 SME business outlook survey," conducted on 3,136 SMEs from the 11th to the 17th, the January business outlook index (SBHI) was 79.3, up 2.8 points from the previous month. It rose 11.2 points from the same month a year earlier (68.1). But it still stayed below 80.
The SME business outlook index quantifies a survey of how SMEs feel about the economy and their business outlook; a reading above 100 means there are more positive outlooks. A reading below 100 means there are more negative outlooks.
For manufacturing, the January outlook rose 1.6 points from the previous month to 82.2, while nonmanufacturing rose 3.2 points to 77.9. In manufacturing, 12 industries rose from the previous month, led by ▲ fabricated metal products (69.0→88.6, up 19.6p) ▲ basic metals (72.1→83.3, up 11.2p). In contrast, 11 industries fell from the previous month, including ▲ industrial machinery and equipment repair (80.8→68.7, down 12.1p) ▲ rubber and plastic products (81.3→73.5, down 7.8p).
In nonmanufacturing, ▲ construction (71.8→73.5, up 1.7p) ▲ services (75.3→78.8, up 3.5p) both rose. In services, five industries rose from the previous month, including ▲ transportation (77.4→85.3, up 7.9p) ▲ wholesale and retail (72.0→76.2, up 4.2p), while five industries fell, including ▲ publishing, video, broadcasting and telecommunications, and information services (90.6→86.9, down 3.7p) ▲ accommodation and food service (82.0→79.0, down 3.0p).
By item, all rose from the previous month: ▲ financing conditions (75.8→81.8) ▲ operating profit (74.3→77.2) ▲ exports (82.2→83.8) ▲ domestic sales (76.6→77.6). Employment, which moves counter to the cycle (97.4→98.3), was expected to worsen from the previous month.
In December, the most common management difficulty for SMEs was "sluggish sales (product sales)" (52.8%), followed by ▲ rising labor costs (38.0%) ▲ rising raw material (materials and supplies) prices (31.2%) ▲ intensifying competition among firms (25.9%).