KIET Manufacturing Business Survey Index (BSI) for the 1st Quarter of 2026

Jung Min Han
Additional contact information
Jung Min Han: Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade

Industrial Economic Review from Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade

Abstract: In the first quarter (Q1) of 2026, most key indices of the Manufacturing Business Survey Index (BSI) remained below the baseline of 100, with both the business conditions and sales indices at 79. By sector, most industrial groups reported weaker sales and export sentiment, particularly the electronic products, steel, textiles, and refined petroleum products sectors. Declines in the BSI scores for the semiconductors, ICT, and secondary batteries industries were modest, however, indicating some resilience in those sectors.

The outlook for Q2 suggests that manufacturers anticipate business conditions to improve substantially over Q1, with business conditions projected ot sit at 90 and sales at 93, respectively. Improvements in other indices are likely to be concentrated a handful of key sectors, such as semicondcutors, shipbuilding, and ICT.

Keywords: business survey index; BSI; manufacturing BSI; macroeconomics; macroeconomic outlook; macroeconomic forecasting; economic forecasting; business trends; business sentiment; South Korea (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E66 L16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 7
Date: 2026
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Published in KIET Industrial Economic Review Vol. 31, No. 2

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.kiet.re.kr/en/pub/ecoreviewDetailView? ... ar=2026&month=&sval=
All articles available for download at www.kiet.re.kr.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ris:kieter:022849

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Industrial Economic Review from Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade Sejong National Research Complex, Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade, 370 Sicheong Dae-ro C-dong 8-12F 30147, Republic of Korea. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Aaron Crossen ().