It seems South Korea's small-and-medium-sized companies are the firms taking the biggest hit from the ongoing restructuring of the local manufacturing sector..<br />SMEs in the nation's service sector also remain stuck in a rut.<br />Kim Ji-yeon reports. <br />Data released by Statistics Korea on Monday shows industrial output among small-and-medium-sized companies in the country's manufacturing sector, particularly those making auto component parts,... declined for the eighth month in a row in September.<br />Output dropped more than four-percent during the January-to-September period compared to the same period last year... the biggest on-year slump since 2009 when the South Korean economy was in a tailspin in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.<br />The statistics agency said the current industrial structure where SMEs have to heavily rely on conglomerates for profits played a part as well.<br />The rising competitiveness of Chinese companies... as well as the relocation of South Korean factories to countries with cheaper labor were also cited as major factors.<br />In comparison, industrial output among conglomerates in the manufacturing sector contracted by a mere zero-point-four percent on-year over the same period.<br />However, it's not just the manufacturing sector that's struggling, output among SMEs in the service sector is also sluggish,... due to a downturn in the food and lodging industries.<br />During the January-to-September period, output edged up a mere one-point-six-percent from a year earlier,... the lowest rate of increase since related data was first compiled in 2015.<br />In contrast, output by conglomerates in the service sector rose more than two-percent on-year.<br />Kim Ji-yeon, Arirang News. <br />
