South Korea’s exports of cosmetics, medicine and other major consumer goods were led by small and medium-sized enterprises last year, with the active establishment of new firms in the industry, data showed Sunday.

The ratio of exports of cosmetics, medicine, clothing, agro-fishery products and household items by SMEs reached $19.8 billion, or 84.1 percent of the total $23.5 billion, last year, according to the figures by the Korea International Trade Association. Big businesses shipped $3.7 billion, or 15.9 percent of the total.

Small and medium-sized firms accounted for 37.5 percent of the country’s total exports last year.

The report attributed the strong performance of the SMEs in consumer product shipments to the growing number of SMEs, with the proportion of new businesses reaching 8.5 percent of the total in the major consumer goods industry.

The average industry ratio of the new businesses was 5.8 percent.

The proportion of new and closing SMEs in the consumer products industry also was 27.1 percent last year compared with the average industry ratio of 21.8 percent, the report said, showing the swift entry and exits of SMEs in the consumer goods industry.

“The government needs to provide customized policies for the SMEs and new firms entering the consumer products industry in consideration of their management capacity and growth stages for the sustainable growth of the consumer goods industry,” the report said. (Yonhap)