The Ministry of SMEs and Startups said on the 7th that it held a livelihood-type suitable industry review committee and decided to designate "sliced rice cake for rice cake soup and tteokbokki rice cake manufacturing" again as a livelihood-type suitable industry.
The livelihood-type suitable industry system is designed to protect the livelihood rights of small business owners and create a stable management environment. Under the Special Act on the Designation of Livelihood-type Suitable Industries for Small Business Owners, enacted in 2018, acquisitions, new entries, and business expansions by large corporations and others are restricted for five years in designated industries.
The sliced rice cake for rice cake soup and tteokbokki rice cake manufacturing industry has a high proportion of small operators. It was first designated as a livelihood-type suitable industry in 2021 based on the judgment that there is a need to protect the management base of small business owners. As the existing designation period is set to end in September this year and an application for redesignation was received, the committee began deliberations.
The committee examined the small scale of the industry and the need for protection, as well as the effects of the system's implementation over the past five years on protecting small business owners and market growth. It also reviewed the impact that redesignation would have on industrial competitiveness and consumer benefits, and concluded that it is necessary to extend the livelihood-type suitable industry designation. The designation period will run from Sept. 16 to Sept. 15, 2031.
The permissible shipment scope for large corporations was expanded compared to before. It guarantees previously allowed volumes to corporations that reduced shipments to comply with the prior notice, while reflecting steady market growth. Accordingly, the annual shipment cap for large corporations and others will be expanded from "110% of the maximum annual shipment over the past five years" to "120% of the maximum annual shipment over the past 10 years."
As before, there is no separate shipment limit when producing products for export, supplying products through an original equipment manufacturing (OEM) method for small and medium-sized enterprises, or making and selling products using domestically grown rice or wheat as raw materials.
Lee Eun-cheong, director general of the win-win cooperation policy bureau at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS), said, "The MSS will manage implementation so that the redesignation decided by the committee is carried out without a hitch, and we will work to ensure that the protection of small business owners and win-win cooperation between large and small and medium-sized corporations are realized on the ground."