[THE INVESTOR]The South Korean manufacturing sector expects conditions to worsen during the third quarter of the year, a survey showed on July 11.

According to the Business Survey Index compiled by the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade, local manufacturing companies expect third-quarter sales and exports to worsen compared to the previous quarter.

In the survey of 462 manufacturing companies, the BSI for exports and sales respectively came in at 98 and 97 points. A BSI below 100 indicates negative outlook compared to the previous quarter. 



The figures for domestic economy and facilities investment came in at 95 and 97, respectively, each down three points from the previous quarter. The figure for backlog, however, rose two points to 102.

Among the different areas of manufacturing, only information and communications technology-related companies showed a higher BSI for the current quarter with 106.

Large companies saw the third quarter to be comparatively worse than SMEs. The BSI for larger companies dropped by seven points to 99, while SMEs showed a smaller drop of three points, going from 100 to 97.

By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)