The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced the '2025 SME Export Trends (Preliminary Figures)' on the 28th, and announced that the export amount of SMEs in 2025 reached $118.6 billion, a 6.9% increase from the previous year, achieving the highest performance ever.
Looking at SME exports by year, the 2025 performance is the highest ever, based on preliminary figures. Quarterly performance was the highest ever from the second to the fourth quarters, and the second half of the year saw a 10.8% increase, exceeding the first half, demonstrating a clear recovery in exports.
The number of exporting SMEs in 2025 reached 98,219, a 2.5% increase from the previous year and a record high. While the number of new and continuing exporters increased, the number of discontinued exporters decreased, indicating an overall improvement in the export ecosystem indicators.
By product, automobiles, cosmetics, and electronic devices achieved record-high performances. Automobile exports, in particular, saw a significant increase, centered on the CIS region and the Middle East. Cosmetics exports expanded beyond the US and China to the EU and the Middle East, reaching record highs in both number of destinations and value. The top ten export categories for SMEs accounted for 36.1% of total exports, indicating that product diversification served as a buffer against global economic fluctuations.
By country, China, the US, Vietnam, and Japan were the largest exporters, in that order. China, after three years of decline, re-emerged as the largest exporter, driven by increased consumer goods exports. Despite tariff risks, the US achieved its second-highest export performance ever, driven by robust exports of cosmetics and electrical equipment. Exports of consumer goods, including K-beauty and food, also increased significantly in the Middle East and the CIS.
Online exports also continued to grow. In 2025, online exports by SMEs reached $1.1 billion, a 6.3% increase from the previous year and a record high. SMEs accounted for 75.6% of total domestic online exports, continuing the trend of SMEs leading online exports.
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups assessed that despite the global protectionist trend and ongoing trade risks, exports by SMEs have improved overall thanks to the interplay of policy support and corporate response efforts.
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