Nearly 90% of the survey respondents in Asia Pacific reported having experienced late payment of invoices from their B2B customers over the past year.
Sales on credit terms
The October 2016 edition of the Atradius Payment Practices Barometer focuses on eight major economies in the Asia Pacific region (Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan). Taken together, these economies show distinctive as well as common features, which form the backdrop to this survey. Asia has remained a leader of global growth in 2016, and its frontrunner position is forecast to remain unchanged in the coming years. China’s economic growth has however slowed, due to a rebalancing towards more consumption and services.
B2B sales on credit in Asia Pacific
Countries (like India) and regions (like Southeast Asia) do not appear to be significantly impacted by China’s slowdown regardless of their proximity to and trade volume with the country. Other countries surveyed, in contrast, show less resilience to the challenging economic environment at global level. This is the case for Australia, where the number of insolvencies is expected to increase this year due to its vulnerability to low commodity prices.
The purpose of this survey is to see how suppliers in the surveyed countries protect their businesses against the risk of payment default arising from B2B trade on credit domestically and abroad.
Singapore appears to be the most trade credit friendly country in Asia Pacific and China the least
As our survey reveals, 90% of the respondents across the countries surveyed in Asia Pacific reported having offered credit terms to their B2B customers over the past year (respondents in the Americas: 87%, in Europe: 78%).
Fact box 1 Asia Pacific
This response rate (stable compared to last year) translated into an average of 46% of the overall value of B2B sales in the region being transacted on credit terms (the Americas: 43%; Europe: 41%). This percentage is stable compared to last year.
On a country basis, the proportion of B2B sales transacted on credit is well below the survey average in Taiwan (39.5%) and China (38.2%), the least trade credit friendly markets in the survey. In Indonesia (43.1%) and India (45.3%) it does not differ markedly from the survey average. In Australia (49%), Hong Kong (50%), Japan (52%) and Singapore (54.5%), the most trade credit friendly country in Asia Pacific, it is above the survey average.
You can read the complete report on the Atradius Credit Insurance Website here: Asia Payment Practices Barometer
