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Oddly, many of the same Chinese industries benefiting most from Chinese government stimulus are also experiencing extremely long overdue payments, according to a survey of 966 companies by Coface<\/a>.<\/p>\n The survey covered the fourth quarter of 2009 and found transportation, construction, industrial machinery, agriculture, steel & metals, and electrical appliances to be the top six stimulus winners.<\/p>\n China Daily:<\/a><\/p>\n Yet these sectors, with the exceptions of agriculture and transportation, also include the highest numbers of companies reporting long overdue payments accounting for over 2 percent of total sales.<\/p>\n “Generally, more than 2 percent of total sales overdue is regarded as a dangerous level, whilst a payment that is overdue for over 12 months has a high probability of becoming a bad debt,” said Richard Burton, regional managing director of Coface in China.<\/p>\n “The survey results reflect the fact that overdue payments remain a key concern among companies in China, even though their sales or profits may have been improved by the stimulus,” he added.<\/p>\n The survey also reveals that companies in China face overdue payments with more average days overdue and greater weight in total domestic sales than in 2008. <\/strong>The number of respondents experiencing payments overdue for over 60 days has increased by 55 percent.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, 55 percent of respondents reported that payments of more than 2 percent of their domestic sales were overdue for six to 12 months, while about 24 percent reported such payments being overdue for more than 12 months – twice as many as in 2008.<\/strong><\/p>\n