Small firms emerging from slump; IBK survey shows production,.

(From The Korea Herald)

By Kim Ji-ho Local small- and medium-sized companies believe their business conditions have begun to pick up after months of slump, a state-run bank survey showed yesterday.

According to the poll of 2,064 smaller manufacturers conducted by the Industrial Bank of Korea from Oct. 1 to Oct. 15, their production index marked 109.3, compared to the base year of 2000 when the index was set at 100. The October figure was up 7.3 points from September and up 0.4 point from a year earlier, recording the first year-on-year growth since February.

More than 38 percent of respondents said they were receiving more orders than before, up from September's 28.4 percent, while only 22.7 percent answered that their orders were decreasing against the previous month's 32.5 percent.

The portion of those who believe their cash flows worsened sank from 31 percent in September to 26 percent, whereas that of respondents enjoying better funding conditions rose from 4.8 percent to 7.1 percent.

Only 12.1 percent of respondents said their inventories were on the rise, versus September's 13.7 percent, while the portion of businesses with smaller inventories remained flat at 16.3 percent.

In September, 14.8 percent said the number of their employees increased, whereas 17.9 percent saw their work forces shrink. But the figures rose to 16.4 percent and fell to 17 percent, respectively, in October.