Global Trade Is Growing But Liquidity and Supply Chain Control Are Becoming the Real Competitive Advantage

Market Insight | September 2026

International trade is not slowing down. It is becoming more complex.

After reaching approximately US$35 trillion in 2025, global trade entered 2026 with continued momentum. UN Trade and Development estimates that global goods trade reached approximately US$13.7 trillion during the first half of 2026, around 12.5% higher than the same period a year earlier, while services trade also continued to expand.

The World Trade Organization's latest Goods Trade Barometer, published on 9 September 2026, stood at 102.0, above its baseline of 100 and its June reading of 101.7, indicating that merchandise trade remained above recent trend levels despite geopolitical and policy uncertainty.

On the surface, these numbers describe a growing global market.

For businesses operating inside that market, however, the reality is considerably more complicated.

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Growth Does Not Automatically Mean Liquidity

Every commercial opportunity creates a financial timeline.

A company may identify the right product, negotiate the right supplier price and already understand the potential demand in its market. Yet the supplier may require payment weeks or months before the company ultimately converts those goods into revenue.

Between those two moments sit purchasing, production, international transport, customs, insurance, storage, distribution and finally customer payment.

That gap can place considerable pressure on working capital.

The scale of the issue is significant. The Asian Development Bank estimates that the global trade-finance gap remained approximately US$2.5 trillion in 2025, equivalent to around 10% of global trade. Its latest survey also found that 80% of participating banks expect demand for trade finance to increase as companies diversify suppliers, enter new markets and restructure their supply chains.

In other words, businesses are finding opportunities to trade.

The challenge is increasingly how to finance and execute those opportunities without placing unnecessary pressure on their existing liquidity.

Working Capital Is Becoming a Strategic Issue

The pressure is also visible much closer to home.

According to the European Central Bank's Survey on the Access to Finance of Enterprises for the second quarter of 2026, euro-area companies reported a significant tightening in financing conditions. A net 42% of firms reported increases in bank-loan interest rates, compared with 26% during the previous quarter.

For SMEs, reported availability of bank loans declined on a net basis.

Perhaps even more revealing is where businesses are using their financing. Approximately 40% of firms reported using finance for inventories and working capital, making these immediate operational requirements one of the principal reasons companies seek funding.

This changes the conversation around business finance.

For an importing company, the question is not simply:

"Can we afford to buy this?"

A more strategic question is:

"Can we complete this transaction while protecting the liquidity required to continue operating and growing the rest of the business?"

Those are very different questions.

The Supply Chain Has Become a Financial Decision

Modern importing can no longer be viewed as a simple sequence of purchasing goods and arranging transport.

The financial decision and the logistics decision are increasingly interconnected.

UN Trade and Development estimates that more than 80% of global merchandise trade by volume is transported by sea. Recent disruptions, rerouted shipping lanes, geopolitical uncertainty and changing trade policies have contributed to greater volatility in freight rates, transit times and transport costs.

For businesses, this means that the true cost of an international purchase is rarely represented by the supplier's invoice alone.

Freight, insurance, customs charges, duties, handling costs, delays and financing costs can significantly affect the final landed cost of a product.

A purchase that appears commercially attractive at the supplier level can therefore produce a very different margin once the complete import process has been calculated.

Visibility over total landed cost is becoming increasingly important before commercial decisions are made rather than after goods have arrived.

Europe Is Still Trading at Enormous Scale

Despite uncertainty, European trade remains substantial.

During the second quarter of 2026, the European Union imported approximately €701.8 billion in goods from outside the EU and exported approximately €680 billion.

Compared with the same quarter of 2025, imports increased by 11.7%, while exports increased by 4.5%. China alone accounted for approximately 21.9% of extra-EU imports during the quarter.

These figures demonstrate something important.

Global sourcing is not disappearing.

It is evolving.

Companies are reconsidering suppliers, transport routes, inventory levels and financing structures while continuing to participate in international markets.

The ECB found that, in response to recent geopolitical disruption, 36% of surveyed euro-area businesses were seeking alternative suppliers for materials, while others were increasing inventory levels or reviewing insurance and trade-finance arrangements.

Resilience is therefore no longer simply about having another supplier.

It is about having the financial and operational capacity to move when an alternative opportunity appears.

For Cyprus, Imports Are Part of Everyday Business

For an economy such as Cyprus, efficient international purchasing and logistics are particularly relevant.

Preliminary CYSTAT data for July 2026 recorded approximately €1.61 billion of imports and €666.8 million of exports during the month.

Behind those statistics are thousands of individual commercial transactions: businesses purchasing equipment, consumer products, materials, machinery, stock and supplies required for their operations.

Every transaction must move through a chain involving suppliers, payments, documentation, transportation and delivery.

Managing each element separately can create complexity.

Connecting them can create control.

From Financing a Purchase to Managing the Transaction

This is where the trade-finance market itself is changing.

Businesses increasingly require more than access to capital. They require visibility over the entire commercial transaction.

Eptagon Business Solutions approaches this challenge through an integrated model designed around the import process itself — from the moment an order is placed with a supplier through to the delivery of the products to the client.

By bringing together approved transaction financing, supplier payments, import management and logistics coordination, the objective is to help businesses execute genuine commercial purchases while managing the pressure those purchases can place on working capital.

Technology also plays an increasingly important role.

Through EBS Connect, clients can access information relating to orders in progress, logistics providers, previous transactions, statistical reports and financial information, providing greater visibility over the import process and supporting more informed management decisions.

The future of trade finance is therefore unlikely to be defined solely by providing money.

It will increasingly be defined by connecting finance, purchasing, information and logistics into one coordinated commercial process.

Opportunity Has Not Disappeared. Complexity Has Increased.

The 2026 global market presents an interesting contradiction.

International trade remains enormous. New sectors are expanding. Businesses continue to discover new suppliers, products and markets.

At the same time, financing conditions, freight volatility, geopolitical disruption and increasingly complex supply chains are making the execution of those opportunities more demanding.

For ambitious businesses, competitiveness will therefore depend not only on identifying the next opportunity.

It will depend on having the structure required to act on it.

Because sometimes the difference between seeing an opportunity and capturing it is not demand.

It is cash flow, timing and execution.

Eptagon Business Solutions

Unlocking Opportunities. Accelerating Business Growth. Simplifying Imports.