Large Australian manufacturing businesses take a median of 31.8 days to pay their small business suppliers, 6.8 days slower than the median of 25 days for all industries. The industry ranks 1 of 18, where 1 is the slowest payer.
Figures cover large Australian businesses paying their small business suppliers only.
423 manufacturing reports · AustraliaRank 1 of 18 by median days to pay, where 1 is the slowest. The dark bar is manufacturing.
At the median entity, 31% of small business invoices are paid late, 5 points above the figure for all industries of 26%.
The middle half of entities pay in 24.4 to 40 days. A quarter take longer than 40 days.
675 manufacturing companies entered external administration over October 2025 to September 2026, rank 8 of 18 by number of cases. This is a count, not a rate.
Businesses that sell to manufacturing businesses can compare these figures with their own debtor days, or check how fast a single customer pays. Paidnice is debtor management software in Australia: it sends reminders and adds late fees on overdue invoices in Xero or QuickBooks. For the wider picture, read the accounts receivable statistics for Australia.
Transport equipment manufacturing is the slowest subdivision at 41 days. Food product manufacturing is the fastest at 28 days.
| Subdivision | Median days | Middle half | Paid late |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transport equipment manufacturing26 entities | 41 | 35.3 to 48.4 | 27.8% |
| Machinery and equipment manufacturing74 entities | 34 | 27.2 to 40.3 | 39.7% |
| Fabricated metal product manufacturing35 entities | 32.8 | 26.6 to 37.5 | 27.9% |
| Basic chemical and chemical product manufacturing46 entities | 32.7 | 25 to 40.9 | 25.7% |
| Beverage and tobacco product manufacturing21 entities | 31.8 | 24.3 to 37 | 30% |
| Primary metal and metal product manufacturing24 entities | 29.9 | 18.6 to 37.4 | 31.2% |
| Food product manufacturing118 entities | 28 | 20 to 39.8 | 30.1% |
Cite: Paidnice (2026). Australian manufacturing payment times. https://www.paidnice.com/payment-times/au/manufacturing. Source: Payment Times Reporting Scheme register (reports ending March 2025 to June 2026), ASIC insolvency statistics. Figures cover large Australian businesses paying their small business suppliers only.
Large Australian manufacturing businesses take a median of 31.8 days to pay their small business suppliers, 6.8 days slower than the median of 25 days for all industries. The industry ranks 1 of 18, where 1 is the slowest payer.
At the median manufacturing entity, 31% of small business invoices are not paid within the payment term. Across all large Australian businesses the median is 26%.
675 manufacturing companies entered external administration for the first time over October 2025 to September 2026, 8 of 18 industries by number of cases. This is a count, not a rate.
Australia has no general statutory interest on late business invoices, so the right to charge a late fee or interest comes from your terms of trade. Put the fee or rate in your terms and on the invoice before the work starts.
This page reports how long large companies take to pay, from government payment filings. How long small businesses wait to be paid is a different measure on a different group of businesses, and it is on the accounts receivable statistics pages.
We took each entity's latest Payment Times Reporting Scheme report with a period ending March 2025 to June 2026 and grouped entities by the ANZSIC division and subdivision they reported. Each entity reports its own average payment time to small business suppliers; we take the median of those averages. Industries and subdivisions publish only with 20 or more entities. Insolvencies are ASIC series 1 counts over October 2025 to September 2026. The scheme covers payments to small businesses only.
Sources: Payment Times Reports Register (© Commonwealth of Australia, Payment Times Reporting Regulator, CC BY 4.0), ASIC insolvency statistics. Download the industry data (CSV).
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