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As many building materials are imported from the EU tariffs or limits on quantities imported after Brexit could lead to higher costs and material shortage.

The construction materials subsector clearly benefits from increased building material prices, and elevated costs are expected to persist throughout 2019.

The payment duration in the industry has increased to 70 days on average, and the payment experience over the past two years has been rather bad.

Many smaller construction companies have weak equity ratios and limited financial scope, which makes them vulnerable to payment delays and defaults.

Competition in the Swedish construction sector is high and consolidation is ongoing, with financially stronger groups buying financially weaker peers.

The insolvency level is high compared to other industries, and after increasing in 2018 business failures are expected rise further in H1 of 2019.

Payment behaviour in the construction industry slowly deteriorated in 2017 and 2018, and this negative trend is expected to continue in the coming months.

The overall indebtedness of many Belgian construction businesses is still high, while banks remain rather unwilling to provide credit to the industry.

Besides the low spending capacity, ongoing tight lending conditions set by banks remain one of the main reasons for the subdued sector performance.

Payments in the Australian construction sector take 30-60 days on average, and the level of protracted payments and insolvencies was high in 2018.

Late payments by mainly larger companies continue to negatively affect the working capital management of many smaller businesses in all segments.

Mid-sized businesses are facing profitability issues due to higher labour costs triggered by shortage of qualified staff and increased commodity prices.

Despite increasing clouds on the horizon, there remain several bright spots for export opportunities in emerging markets.

The economic impact of USMCA on Mexican-US trade is likely to be limited, as it is effectively a small modification of the pre-existing NAFTA agreement.

Trade policy uncertainty is one of the top risks to US businesses and consumers in 2019 that may bring the next downturn on more quickly than expected.

Despite a forecast growth slowdown in 2019 the economy should still experience positive momentum, with low unemployment and manageable inflation.

Some larger players continue to push the supply chain on price and longer payment terms, adding cash flow challenges to mainly smaller food businesses.

Many food producers and processors struggle to pass on higher input prices, which is hampered by the high concentration and market power of retailers.

As the UK is a major Danish export market, a hard Brexit could trigger a significant decrease in Danish export of food and agricultural products.

Despite efforts of food exporters to diversify shipments away from Britain, a hard Brexit remains a major challenge, also for shipments to mainland Europe.