2025年法国支付调查：86%的公司面临逾期付款威胁其现金流

COFACEECONOMIC PUBLICATIONS PAYMENT SURVEY 2025 France corporate payment survey:More frequent delays as the impact of US tariffs begins to be felt Executive summaryT companies that have experienced payment delays, 42%attribute them to their customers’ financial difficulties.The continued deterioration in corporate paymentbehaviour has logically resulted in an increasing number payment terms. The average payment period in Francehas fallen from 51 to 49.7 days, which is still longer thanin Germany and Poland, but shorter than in the UnitedKingdom and, above all, Asia.With regard to payment delays, which are more indicative These negative expectations are in line with a clearlydownward economic outlook for 2026, both in France andinternationally. Regardless of their size, the vast majorityof companies surveyed expect a deterioration or, atbest, a stabilisation of activity in France and worldwide,despite already limited growth in 2025. Nevertheless, of the economic situation, the trend continues todeteriorate: 86% of the companies surveyed reportedpayment delays, compared to 85% in 2024 and 82% in2023. Among the countries where we conduct similarpayment surveys, only the United Kingdom has a higherproportion. In addition, the majority of companies reportthat there have been more payment delays than last year. While the main risks mentioned by companies remainbroadly unchanged from last year, the political andsocial environment in France is more than ever the mainsource of concern. Among the notable developments, FRANCE PAYMENT SURVEY 2025 In the context of trade tensions with the UnitedStates, marked by successive announcements oftariffs since Donald Trump’s return to power, 84%of the companies surveyed have already seen animpact. Beyond the concerns expressed by theirtrading partners, a quarter of them have already Tarif f s will have a ne gative impac t on mos tindustries, with 40% or more of companies havingreduced or planning to reduce their margins in In light of this survey, companies’ margins and cashflow will remain under pressure and insolvencies willremain at a high level until 2026. BRUNO DE MOURA FERNANDESGlobal Head of MacroeconomicResearch PAYMENT TERMS1:A WELL-ESTABLISHED PRACTICE Kingdom6(51 days). However, it is still well belowthose recorded in China7(76 days) and the rest ofAsia8(65 days). a well-established practice, regardless of thesector and size of the company. As in 2023 and20243,97% of the companies surveyed saidthey grant payment terms.Nearly half of them granted payment terms of between 31 and 60days (49%), and only 8% offered terms of morethan 3 months. The average payment term hasdecreased to 49.7 days, compared to 51 days last•Although relatively less inclined to grant paymentterms, 93% of micro-enterprises still do so. Theyalso offer shorter terms: 44% of them offer termsof less than one month, compared with only11% of larger companies (Chart 1). The average payment period offered by micro-enterprises is of the companies surveyed grantedpayment terms to their customers.The average payment term large companies. This difference, already notedin previous surveys, can be explained by thegenerally less comfortable cash flow situation ofmicro-enterprises, which does not allow them tobe as flexible on payment terms. Quite intuitively, in tourism, where they are generally less thanone month (Chart 2). As was the case last year,payment terms tend to be shorter in services,highlighting a structural feature. Three of the foursectors with the shortest average payment termsbelong to the services category (Chart 3). While PAYMENT DELAYS9:INCREASINGLY COMMON •86% of companies have experienced paymentdelays from their customersover the last 12months, compared to 85% last year and 82%in 2013. By way of comparison, payment delaysare more frequent than in Germany (81% ofcompanies), Poland (60% of companies), China this percentage rises to 92% for medium-sizedand large companies and even 94% for SMEs.In addition, the majority of them report thatpayment delays have been more frequent thanin the previous year (Chart 4). The continued •Although a majority of companies report paymentdelays of less than 30 days, 44% have experienceddelays of more than one month (Chart 5). Theaverage length of payment delays remained •Regardless of their size, a majority of companiesreport having experienced payment delays. Whilethree-quarters of micro-enterprises were affected, 86%of the companiessurveyed reportedpayment delays, compared with 85%last year and 82%in 2023. A majorityof them said thatthey were more Chart 6:Impact of payment delays on cash flow by company size (scale of 0 to 5) or “critical” impact on their cash flow (Chart 6).Although vulnerability declines with companysize, 39% of SMEs and 26% of mid-sized and largecompanies also reported that their cash flow wassignificantly impacted, a figure that has beenrising steadily since 2023. In terms of sectors, and the United King