The number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in South Korea increased by more than 10 percent over the past years, but their contribution to the nation's exports dived, data showed Sunday.
   
According to the data released by the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business, 296,000 SMEs were operating here as of 2011, up 10.1 percent from 2006, with the number of their employees jumping 18.3 percent to 1.95 million.
   
In the same period, the number of conglomerate affiliates contracted 27.8 percent, or about 1,000, while the number of conglomerate employees increased 351,000, or 22.6 percent, in the 2006-2011 period, the data showed.

Despite the external growth, however, indicators of qualitative growth at the local SMEs, such as the share of exports and productivity, have deteriorated, they found.   

SMEs' contribution to the nation's exports, for instance, plunged from 31.9 percent in 2006 to 18.7 percent in 2011, with their shipment volume falling from US$103.7 billion to $102.6 billion.    

The per employee productivity at SMEs was tallied at 109 million won as of 2011, standing at merely 29.1 percent of conglomerates' 374 million won, the data showed.
   
"Despite sustained quantitative growth, small and medium businesses still show wide gaps with conglomerates in terms of various management indicators, including productivity and exports," said a federation official, calling for greater nationwide efforts to foster growth of SMEs. (Yonhap News)