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The 162nd Survey of SME Business Conditions (October-December 2020) Released

Japanese

December 11, 2020

The Survey of SME Business Conditions is a quarterly survey conducted by the Organization for Small and Medium Enterprises and Regional Innovation, targeting about 19,000 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) across Japan in cooperation with business management advisors from commercial and industrial associations and chambers of commerce and industry, and researchers from the National Federation of Small Business Associations.

The Small and Medium Enterprise Agency (SMEA) and the organization jointly compiled the business achievements (diffusion indices, or DIs) of SMEs for the October-December 2020 period and the forecasts (DIs) for the January-March 2021 period concerning SME business conditions, sales amounts, ordinary profits, and other data.

Key point of the survey results

The business conditions DI for SMEs increased for two consecutive quarters.

For details, see the Appendix. The following are excerpts.

Nationwide business conditions

  1. From October to December 2020, the business conditions DI for all industries was -26.1 (up by 8.0 points from the previous quarter), showing an increase for two consecutive quarters.

  2. The business conditions DI for the manufacturing sector was -29.2 (up by 11.6 points from the previous quarter), showing an increase for two consecutive quarters. Looking at the business conditions DI of each industry, improvements were seen in 13 industries including the chemical, transportation equipment, electrical & information communication equipment and electronic parts, and pulp, paper and paper products industries, while the DIs for the furniture and accessories industries decreased.

  3. The business conditions DI for the non-manufacturing sector was -25.4 (up by 6.7 points from the previous quarter), showing an increase for two consecutive quarters. Looking at the business conditions DI of each industry, the DIs increased in all of the wholesale, services, retail trade and construction industries.

  4. The DI measuring long-term financing difficulty was -2.2 (down by 0.5 points from the previous quarter), showing a decrease for the first time in three quarters, and the DI measuring short-term financing difficulty was -1.9 (up by 0.5 points from the previous quarter), showing an increase for two consecutive quarters.

Region-based business conditions

  1. The business conditions DI for all industries by region increased in all of the Kyushu/Okinawa, Kanto, Chubu, Tohoku, Kinki, Shikoku, Hokkaido and Chugoku regions.

  2. The business conditions DI for the manufacturing sector by region increased in all regions across Japan.

  3. The business conditions DI for the non-manufacturing sector by region increased in all regions across Japan.

Related material

Link to related information

Division in Charge

Research Office, Policy Planning Division, Business Environment Department, Small and Medium Enterprise Agency

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