The shadow of the new "triangular debt" covers the real economy

Nearly 80% of the companies encountered payment defaults, and the three major industries of construction, steel, and textile were hit hardest.

Under the dual effects of weak downstream demand in the iron and steel industry and banks’ tightening credit for steel traders, the problem of steel traders facing payment defaults has finally emerged.

Wang Jiangning is a deputy general manager of a construction steel trading company in Zhejiang, and is mainly responsible for sales. “At the beginning of this year, there was a downstream construction company that had purchased nearly 3,000 tons of steel. However, even though the contract has expired, the other party still has more than half of the money not provided to me.” Wang Jiangning told the “China Enterprise News” reporter.

As a middleman, it is in a natural disadvantaged position. Wang Jiangning was afraid of losing such a big customer and could only swallow his breath. He had to spend more than 10 times with smiling faces before and after, with no effect.

Wang Jiangning told reporters that downstream buyers often default on the payment of steel traders and they are not cases.

Xu Jiannong, president of the Jiangsu Industry and Commerce Steel Trade Association, said that this year, there has been an endless phenomenon of end-user default payments: Some enterprises, some end-users, the credibility is not high, but in order to rapidly expand, in large amounts owed At the same time, bank loans still lag behind steel traders, making the burden on traders worse.

Coface's survey of corporate credit risk management in China shows that as more Chinese companies take credit transactions, the consequence is that Chinese companies encounter more local buyers who are in arrears. Its proportion rose from 67.4% in 2010 to 79% in 2011. It is worth noting that in 2008, more than 90% of the companies had suffered overdue payments from buyers. In the three major industries of construction, steel and textiles, the default payment for loans is often over 60 days.

Six major arrears reason

Mr. Zhang is a special accountant for textile companies. “In the past, foreign companies often defaulted on payment, and now the situation of domestic companies defaulting on payment has become serious,” said Mr. Zhang.

Mr. Zhang’s company was already owed nearly 6 million yuan in the first half of this year. This has seriously affected the company’s ability to purchase raw materials. "Without sufficient raw materials, upstream suppliers began to be cautious about supplying the company," said Mr. Zhang.

"Originally purchasing cotton and other raw materials, the deposit will be paid up to 20%. Now we see that our company's cash flow is not enough. The raw material supplier wants us to pay 90% of all the materials. We must pay for all the suppliers who are familiar with it. About 80% of the money," said Mr. Zhang.

Mr. Zhang told reporters that the first reason for arrears when it comes to chasing debts is that the company really has no funds.

“Actually, such a customer is definitely rich, but there is no arrangement to pay our company's money. Such a company usually has a monthly payment plan, just to pay the money to other companies.”

The second reason is that the financial reconciliation. "In fact, it was deliberately finding an excuse to default. I once ran back a sum of $500,000, and the other company said that the original buyer was gone and had to reconcile the account. It had been dragging on for nearly a year. Mr. Zhang said.

For the third reason, a medium-sized steel plant in Hebei told reporters that a downstream user had recently used the quality problem as an excuse to default on payment.

"I have been working in a steel mill for almost 6 years. This is the first time I have encountered this situation. And we have proposed how we can improve it. The other party can't say the right reason. This batch of steel was sold out and there was no penny. Earn," said the middle of the steel mill.

In addition, there are some reasons why companies can not get the money smoothly. Just like kicking the ball, the dunning team was kicked and kicked in the other party's procurement, finance, and sales. There were also methods to start a wrong check from the bank, and the upstream raw material supplier got the debt at a high price to make the company close. Back to capital.

The director of the Department of Market Order of the Ministry of Commerce, Chang Xiaocun, recently stated that at present, there are a large number of credit missing issues in business activities, such as malicious default on loans, loans, arbitrary breach of contract, counterfeiting, false sales, commercial fraud, infringement of intellectual property rights, etc. Seriously affected the healthy development of the economy.

Customers are often "debited" due to lack of money

Wang Jiangning told the reporter that most of his clients are real estate construction companies, the real estate industry is still in a downturn, new buildings are few, and the construction company’s cash flow is not sufficient. It is reflected in the steel sales level, which means that steel products are not sold, and downstream companies often default on payment. .

"We really have no way to default, we must rely on them to eat it." Wang Jiangning said.

It is understood that in the steel trade industry, which has more than 200,000 enterprises, there is a long-term situation of “scattered, small, and disordered”, which leads to a weak position in the upstream and downstream industries.

Coincidentally, there are also such problems in the field of machinery.

Cai Weici, executive vice president of the China Federation of Machinery Industry, said that the machinery industry is facing serious arrears of payment. The entire industry has been sluggish. This year, the growth rate of the industrial added value of the machinery industry has dropped to the third lowest among all industries. This has never happened before.

According to the survey data of the "Special Report on the Growth and Development of Chinese Business Operators," the problems in China's corporate credit are mainly represented by default on loans, loans, taxes, breach of contract, counterfeiting and other products, and other issues. Among them, the problem of arrears of loans, loans, and taxes appears to be most serious among domestic corporate operators, accounting for 76.2% of the total.

According to a Coface survey of corporate credit risk management in China, financial difficulties are still the main reason for customers to delay payment. 63% of the surveyed companies stated that the financial difficulties were caused mainly by insufficient cash flow, fierce competition and lack of financing channels.

Li Tao, a deputy general manager of a construction material company in Jining, Shandong, told the reporter that the company owes 3 companies a total of more than 2 million yuan. "I don't want to pay back. It's really no money. Real estate is sluggish. Building materials cannot be sold. The company's original revenue for one month could be 400,000 yuan, and now it's less than 50,000 yuan," said Li Tao.

“But there are others owed to us. There are two real estate construction companies owed us 1 million yuan, which led us to work around.” Li Tao told reporters.

Even among large and medium-sized steel companies, account receivables of more than 70 large and medium-sized iron and steel enterprises nationwide reached over 50 billion yuan last year, and accounts payable exceeded 300 billion yuan.

"Actually, the problems faced by the machinery industry in collecting bad debts are very serious. Downstream companies do not have any money," an insider of the China Machinery Industry Federation told reporters.

According to the latest data from the China Federation of Machinery Industry, as of the first quarter of this year, the lack of downstream demand has led to serious business debt. According to statistics of the association, the current account receivables of enterprises have reached 2.3 trillion yuan, up 17.88% year-on-year.

Be wary of the arrival of the new "triangular debt"

Yin Zhongqing, deputy chairman of the National People's Congress Financial and Economic Committee, recently said: “Last time we went to Sichuan, Hubei and other places to investigate, many companies reflected that receivables grew faster, and some companies have seen the emergence of triangular debt. If they continue to develop, it is possible. It evolved into a new round of corporate debt."

Li Tao recently saw news that many corporate executives have run for their debt problems. He found that many companies are enterprises in the traditional industry, and at the very least, they are also real estate companies.

The three major industry buildings, steel, and textiles mentioned in the Coface report as the most indebtedness are also industries in the real economy.

Wang Jiangning also told reporters that the recent steel mills have relatively high pressure for repayment, and some steel mills have even reduced their purchases. Because steel mills have too many accounts receivable and accounts payable, they are considered to be the center of “triangular debt”.

It is understood that in the mid to late 1980s and early 1990s, China had experienced serious problems with triangular debt. At that time, the scale of “account receivables not received” was almost one-third of the total bank credit of the same period. According to incomplete statistics, by the end of 1992, the country had injected more than 500 billion yuan in funds and adopted various means to finally solve the problem of triangular debt.

Yin Zhongqing had publicly stated that the shadow of the long-lost triangle debt first shrouded the SMEs in the real economy. In the industry chain where it is most likely to form a triangle debt, large companies are in the upstream of raw materials and auxiliary materials. If large companies have tight funding, SMEs attached to it will have no source of running water and will begin to owe each other. Weak SMEs have become the main bearers of the financial pressure of the “triangular debt chain”.

Yin Zhongqing said that the issue of triangular debt reflects the deteriorating operating environment in the domestic market and the deterioration of the company’s operating capabilities. Although the new round of the three-year debt problem is not as serious as it was 20 years ago, it has become a risk factor that can affect the stable and rapid economic development of our country and affect the safety of the financial system.