How Metals & Mining Leaders Financed $23B+ in Supplier Payments Without Adding Debt

Steel and ore move on tight margins, and the working capital behind them moves even tighter. Allianz Trade expects global business insolvencies to climb for a fifth straight year through 2026, pushed up by high interest rates and trade tensions, and that risk lands first on the suppliers keeping production running. Most treasury teams in metals and mining still finance their supply chains the way they did a decade ago, and that outdated approach leaves roughly 80% of suppliers outside any affordable liquidity program. That gap is where supplier risk builds and cash gets stuck. According to Monkey's program data, 51% of the sector already runs its supply chain finance through a multi-funder structure rather than relying on a single bank line. This is what changes when they do.