Results of monthly survey on business situation of small and medium-sized enterprises for January 2026
The Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) released today (February 10) the results of the Monthly Survey on Business Situation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) for January 2026.
The current diffusion index (DI) on business receipts amongst SMEs decreased from 44.9 in December 2025 in the contractionary zone to 43.4 in January 2026, whereas the one-month's ahead (i.e. February 2026) outlook DI on business receipts was 46.4. Analysed by sector, the current DIs on business receipts for a number of surveyed sectors dropped in January 2026 as compared with previous month, particularly for the retail trade (from 42.1 to 38.4) and wholesale trade (from 44.3 to 40.7).
The current DI on new orders for the import and export trades decreased from 47.7 in December 2025 to 46.0 in January 2026, whereas the outlook DI on new orders in one month's time (i.e. February 2026) was 47.1.
Commentary
A Government spokesman said that the current and outlook diffusion indices on business receipts for SMEs in January eased somewhat, following general improvements in the past months. The current diffusion index on employment for SMEs in the same month also recorded a slight moderation from the preceding month.
Looking ahead, sustained economic expansion in Hong Kong should help bolster local business sentiment. However, the international environment remains complicated, and the Government will continue to closely monitor the evolving developments.
Further information
The Monthly Survey on Business Situation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises aims to provide a quick reference, with minimum time lag, for assessing the short-term business situation faced by SMEs. SMEs covered in this survey refer to companies with fewer than 50 persons engaged. Respondents were asked to exclude seasonal fluctuations in reporting their views. Based on the views collected from the survey, a set of diffusion indices (including current and outlook diffusion indices) is compiled. A reading above 50 indicates that the business condition is generally favourable, whereas that below 50 indicates otherwise. As for statistics on the business prospects of prominent companies in Hong Kong, users may refer to the publication entitled "Report on Quarterly Business Tendency Survey" released by the C&SD.
The results of the survey should be interpreted with care. The survey solicits feedback from a panel sample of about 600 SMEs each month and the survey findings are thus subject to sample size constraint. Views collected from the survey refer only to those of respondents on their own companies rather than those on the respective sectors they are engaged in. Besides, in this type of opinion survey on expected business situation, the views collected in the survey are affected by the events in the community occurring around the time of enumeration, and it is difficult to establish precisely the extent to which respondents' perception of the business situation accords with the underlying trends. For this survey, main bulk of the data were collected around the last week of the reference month.
More detailed statistics are given in the "Report on Monthly Survey on the Business Situation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises". Users can browse and download the publication at the website of the C&SD (www.censtatd.gov.hk/en/EIndexbySubject.html?pcode=B1080015&scode=300).
Users who have enquiries about the survey results may contact Industrial Production Statistics Section of the C&SD (Tel: 3903 7246; email: sme-survey@censtatd.gov.hk).
The Census and Statistics Department (C&SD), Photo source: reference image
