AHK World Business Outlook Fall 2023

KGCCI/AHK Korea, the second-largest bilateral Chamber in Korea, is part of the global network of German Chambers abroad. The network conducts a biannual business survey among German companies operating abroad with KGCCI analyzing the Korean results. Some of the outcomes of the latest Fall 2023 survey among German companies in Korea are:

• The number of companies assessing the own current business situation as good decreases further to 20%. As the same number considers its business situation as bad, the saldo (difference between positive and negative replies) falls from 14 points to 0. This is the worst result since spring 2021 (-8).  
• The percentage of companies which expect a positive development for their Korean operations goes down to 36% from 44% six months ago. 
• However, the number of companies planning to expand investment increases further to 36%. For the first time since fall 2021, the positive investment intentions prevail over the lower and no investment plans. 
• Demand is considered by far the biggest risk factor, marked by 2/3 of the companies, an increase by 15% compared to six months ago. Almost every second company is worried about the lack of skilled workers (+20% compared to spring). 41% express concerns about labor cost.

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