Joint Press Release with the Organization for Small and Medium Enterprises and Regional InnovationThe 131st Survey of SME Business Conditions (January-March 2013)

For details of the results, see the Appendix(PDF:867KB) (in Japanese).

The recent business conditions of small and medium enterprises appear to be picking up.

• The business conditions DI (diffusion index) of all industries showed a decrease in the negative gap.
• Looking at the business conditions DI of each industry, the negative gap of both the manufacturing and non-manufacturing sectors decreased.

1. From January to March 2013, the business conditions DI of all industries improved by 4.3 percentage points from minus 25.2 in the preceding quarter to minus 20.9, which means that the negative gap decreased.
2. The business conditions DI of the manufacturing sector improved by 4.6 percentage points from minus 24.4 in the preceding quarter to minus 19.8, which means that the negative gap decreased. Looking at the business conditions DI of each industry, the negative gap decreased in 12 industries (including manufacture of transportation equipment, metal products, furniture and fixtures, iron & steel and non-ferrous metals, and electricity/information and telecommunication equipment/electronic parts). The negative gap deteriorated in 2 industries (manufacture of pulp, paper and paper products, and food).
3. The business conditions DI of the non-manufacturing sector improved by 3.4 percentage points from minus 25.3 in the preceding quarter to minus 21.9, which means that the negative gap decreased. Looking at the business conditions DI of each industry, the negative gap decreased in all of the industries, namely the construction, service, retail and wholesale sectors.
4. The financing DI of all industries improved by 1.8 percentage points from minus 19.8 in the preceding quarter to minus 18.0, the DI measuring long-term financing difficulty improved by 0.6 percentage points from minus 10.3 in the preceding quarter to minus 9.7, and the DI of short-term financing difficulty improved by 0.9 percentage points from minus 7.2 in the preceding quarter to minus 6.3, which means that the negative gap decreased.

In this quarter, the positive gap of the materials/goods purchase unit prices DI ("increase" to "decrease" on a year-on-year basis) increased. The ordinary profit DI ("increase" to "decrease" on a year-on-year basis) remains flat, while the negative gap of the unit sales price/per-customer sales DI ("increase" to "decrease" on a year-on-year basis) decreased. These results are considered to be caused by a price increase in raw materials and fuels due to the depreciation of the yen, and future trends should be closely monitored.

Note: DI is calculated on a seasonally-adjusted quarter-on-quarter basis unless otherwise specified.

March 27, 2013

• Research Office, Policy Planning Division, Business Environment Department, Small and Medium Enterprise Agency
• Business Support Information Center, Organization for Small and Medium Enterprises and Regional Innovation