It now takes a company 67 days to turn a unit of cash spent on operations into cash collected from sales, according to Allianz Trade’s annual Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) & Cash Collection Cycle (CCC) report.
The report, which focuses on how long it takes corporates to turn a unit of cash spent on operations into cash collected from sales, says the global CCC rose again in 2025 and appears to have settled at a structurally high plateau. The real driver for the rise, it adds, is inventories – with companies moving away from “just-in-time” efficiency toward “just-in-case” resilience.
More inventories increase resilience but weigh on cash realization
The global CCC rose by a moderate half a day in 2025. It now stands at 67 days of turnover, some +3 days above its 10-year average and close to its 2023 high (68 days). This trend shows no sign of easing and is primarily driven by companies’ efforts to enhance resilience through larger inventories.
“Days Inventory Outstanding (DIO) now explains almost 80% of the CCC level,” says Maxime Lemerle, lead analyst for insolvency research at Allianz Trade. “This reflects a fundamental change in corporates’ behaviour: they are moving away from ‘just-in-time’ efficiency toward ‘just-in-case’ resilience. By building larger inventories, companies tie up more capital in stock that is not expected to be converted into cash quickly, in exchange for greater supply-chain security and flexibility against geopolitical uncertainty, supply-chain disruptions, and trade fragmentation.
“In other words, supply chains are no longer optimised only for cost,” Lemerie says. “They are increasingly designed for security, resilience, and optionality.”
According to Allianz Trade, global DIO reached 53 days in 2025, quite stable compared to 2024, but well above the pre-pandemic average (48 days). In this context, DSO is not adding extra pressure on corporates’ cashflow: global payment terms increased slightly to 56.5 days (+0.3 day) last year, remaining stable at this level since 2022, and still -3 days compared to the pre-pandemic norm.
Sector divergence deepens as resilience reshapes supply chains
Globally, sector dispersion is particularly pronounced, suggesting a split emerging between strategic sectors and the rest of the economy: for 25% of companies, the CCC is below 43 days while for another 25%, it goes above 107 days. According to Allianz Trade, 12 of the 20 sectors analysed extended their CCC, with automotive suppliers (+4 days), paper, metals, and textile (+3 days) leading the pack. On the other hand, eight sectors recorded a decrease in CCC, notably transport equipment (-6 days), computers & telecom (-4 days), and energy (-3 days).
“Industries most exposed to supply-chain fragmentation – particularly upstream manufacturing and industrial inputs – have increased inventory buffers, resulting in structurally higher working-capital requirements,” says Lemerle. “By contrast, several strategically important sectors including energy, transport equipment, and digital infrastructure have shortened their cash conversion cycles despite heightened geopolitical uncertainty.
“This likely reflects a combination of stronger pricing power, robust cash generation, supportive industrial policies, and sustained structural demand,” Lemerle adds.
What to expect for 2026?
Allianz Trade expects a contained rise in CCC in 2026. First, the sectors most affected by the US-Iran conflict have limited room to accommodate a further rise in DIO before financing needs enter distress territory.
Second, the shock should be partly offset by continued private-sector spending on AI infrastructure and data centres – which supports computers & telecoms, and software & IT – keeping a meaningful share of the economy on a compressing or, at worst, flat trajectory.
“On these assumptions, measures to reassess energy security, strategic inventories, and supply-chain resilience – together with the direct fallout of the conflict – should push global DIO up by around +2 days,” says Lemerle. “We estimate that each additional day of DIO translates into +1.16 days of CCC globally. This is quite far from what was witnessed after the 2022 shock when CCC rose by +5 days.”