Report

The pulse of global trade Q1 2026 sector & regional review

Unlocking insights across the FIS Supply Chain Finance Platform

Global trade performance can look resilient at the headline level while significant sector and payment pressures build beneath the surface. This report gives CFOs, corporate treasurers, working-capital leaders, and trade-finance professionals a data-led view of global activity in Q1 2026.

The Pulse of Global Trade is the first edition of a quarterly FIS Supply Chain Finance intelligence series based on anonymized, aggregated platform transaction data. It examines platform-wide sales activity, sector and regional performance, payment behavior, working-capital stress, and the economic and geopolitical factors to watch in Q2 2026.

Key Takeaways

• How platform sales activity ended March approximately 19% above March 2025, despite sharply different sector trajectories.

• Why Manufacturing remains the clearest area of stress, continuing the decline seen during the second half of 2025.

• What stronger March results in Food Production and Wholesale & Retail may indicate, and which inflation and inventory risks could reverse that momentum.

• How widening gaps between agreed and actual payment terms are increasing working-capital pressure, with platform-wide payments running nearly ten days late by March.

Topics