Firms in Gwangju, South Jeolla Province cite sluggish domestic demand as top business hurdle

Companies in Gwangju and South Jeolla Province ranked sluggish domestic demand as their biggest business challenge, a Bank of Korea survey showed Tuesday.

The Bank of Korea's Gwangju-South Jeolla branch surveyed 524 companies in the region — 255 in manufacturing and 269 in non-manufacturing — about their operational difficulties. Among manufacturers, 17.7 percent of respondents cited weak domestic demand as their primary concern.

Intensifying competition came second at 15.7 percent, followed by rising raw material prices (15.4 percent), economic uncertainty (15.0 percent), sluggish exports (9.6 percent) and labor shortages and rising labor costs (7.5 percent).

Among non-manufacturers, 22.7 percent pointed to weak domestic demand as their top concern, followed by labor shortages and rising labor costs (18.0 percent), economic uncertainty (11.8 percent), funding shortfalls (11.1 percent), intensifying competition (10.0 percent) and rising raw material prices (7.9 percent).

The branch's Corporate Business Survey Index for September came in at 84.5 for manufacturers, up 0.3 point from the previous month, while the non-manufacturing index rose 0.4 point to 94.9.

The forward-looking index for October fell 2.6 points to 80.8 for manufacturers, while the non-manufacturing outlook index edged down 0.2 point to 94.3.