The effects of liquidity on inventory: Evidence form forestry products subsector in Turkey

Abstract

As a part of Agriculture sector, forestry subsector is the main provider for the forestry products industry which has been neglected in terms of short-term liabilities and liquidity analysis. Liquidity is a function of the liabilities of the businesses in the short-run and it is expected to consist much of trade credit rather than bank credit. This study tries to reveal the long-term dependence of the short-term inventories on cash and cash equivalents, short-term bank credit used, and short-term accounts receivable as a percentage of short-term liabilities in the forestry products subsector in Turkey. We analyze the sectoral three years averages of aggregate balance sheet data in the long-term (1998 - 2016) and we depict that inventories have correlations with cash and cash equivalents, short-term bank credit and short-term accounts receivable and we also reveal that the sector’s short-term liabilities have had a diminishing trend in the very long-run. After introducing the model, we have run the linear regression of the model and we share the robust results of the tests. The findings give evidence that inventories, which are in fact the most illiquid part of the current assets, have bank credit dependency as much as accounts receivable though decreasing liabilities in the short-term. We therefore offer suggestions on the results for the forestry products subsector so as to hedge against the potentially adverse liquidity conditions in the near future. Each precaution held for a subsector will therefore help the sustainability of the forestry and the agriculture sector as a whole and it will also contribute as an example therein integrated especially with the marketing strategies.