An inventory equal to 60 days

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

An inventory equal to 60 days sales is then only as a way to anticipate higher prices or ensure against shortage.

Is this sentence correct?

2

No, it does not make overall sense. It might be correct if the word “as” was deleted, but my first impression was that some words are missing.

There should be an apostrophe in “60 days’ sales”.

3

Dozy,
What is the meaning of “An inventory equal to 60 days’ sales”?

4

“inventory” in this case is the amount of stock that a company keeps (say in a warehouse or on shop shelves) ready for sale. “an inventory equal to 60 days sales” means an amount of stock that would take 60 days to sell.

5

An inventory equal to 60 days’ sales is as much as even the strongest business can carry and then only as a way to anticipate higher prices or ensure against shortage.

What does the bold part suggest?

6

I tried to explain this at english-test.net/forum/ftopic119212.html

Which aspect is still unclear?

By the way, I suppose it is easy enough to forget, but when you repeat this sentence, I wish you would make the correction that I have mentioned three times before, in this thread and the other one.

7

An inventory equal to 60 days’ sales is as much as even the strongest business can carry and [size=125]then only as a way to[/size] anticipate higher prices or ensure against shortage.

I still feel difficult with the bold part. May I get an equivalent alternative of the bold part that can be interchange each other?

8

Unfortunately I can’t think of a sensible way to rephrase the bold part in a way that is directly interchangeable.

“then” introduces the explanation of the circumstances in which businesses might carry an inventory of 60 days’ sales.

“only as a way to anticipate higher prices or ensure against shortage” is the description of the circumstances in which businesses can carry 60 days’ sales. In other words, businesses should not carry an inventory of 60 days’ sales for any reason other than the two mentioned.

The combination “and then only…” continues the idea started by of “as much as even…” that this is an extreme or exceptional case.