Poland coal firms top debt ranking, HoReCa leads arrears

That matters because sectors with heavy capital needs tend to be more exposed when borrowing gets expensive and investment programs stretch balance sheets. In water, wastewater and waste services, where infrastructure spending is rising, average debt reaches 14.8 tys. zł per active company, according to KRD calculations based on first-quarter data.

The scale of the problem is not uniform across the economy. Across all analyzed sectors, the average debt per active company is 3.86 tys. zł, but in coal it is far higher, reflecting a sector that still faces structural pressure even as some governments continue to support production and resource auctions.

By contrast, HoReCa leads in the number of debtors. Nearly 196 out of every 1,000 active accommodation and food-service firms appear in the debt register, the highest ratio of any sector, ahead of transport and warehousing at 190 per 1,000.

For investors, that split points to two different risk profiles. Coal carries the deepest balance-sheet stress, while HoReCa shows the widest payment-discipline problem, suggesting more frequent working-capital strains and a greater chance of small-business failures or credit losses for lenders and factoring firms.

The data also highlights how the burden is concentrated in relatively capital-intensive or cyclical businesses. In agriculture and forestry, as well as mining more broadly, the share of delinquent firms remains elevated at roughly one in 16, but coal stands out as the clearest outlier in debt size.

KRD said the analysis covered 2.9 million active Polish companies at the end of the first quarter. The findings suggest the next pressure point will be whether higher rates, delayed projects and weak consumer demand continue to push indebted sectors deeper into arrears.