March 2012 Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories and New Orders

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According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the value of shipments and inventories generally rose during March for the sectors and industries we track, but new orders for durable goods declined.
 

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Shipments, up ten consecutive months, increased $3.3 billion or 0.7 percent to $466.2 billion. This followed a 0.1 percent February increase.

Shipments of manufactured durable goods in March, up three of the last four months, increased $2.0 billion or 0.9 percent to $208.8 billion, revised from the previously published 1.0 percent increase. This followed a 0.3 percent February decrease.

Machinery, up four of the last five months, had the largest increase, $2.0 billion or 6.5 percent to $32.9 billion.

Shipments of manufactured nondurable goods, up four of the last five months, increased $1.4 billion or 0.5 percent to $257.4 billion. This followed a 0.5 percent February increase. Food products, up following two consecutive monthly decreases, led the increase, up $0.8 billion or 1.2 percent to $61.5 billion. Wood and Paper shipments rose 0.5 and 0.6 percent, respectively.
 

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Data from the Association of American Railroads (AAR) and the Ceridian-UCLA Pulse of Commerce Index (PCI) help round out the picture on goods shipments. AAR reported a 20.4 percent decrease in not-seasonally adjusted rail shipments in March (relative to February), and a 5.8 percent drop from a year earlier; the reason give the for the decline was decreased coal shipments. Seasonal adjustments reduced the 20.4 percent February-to-March decrease to a 3.4 percent drop. Rail shipments of forest-related products were higher overall in March than a year earlier.

The PCI, which tracks diesel use for over-the-highway trucking, rose by 0.3 percent on a seasonally and workday adjusted basis in March. The PCI’s rise was in line with the American Trucking Associations’ (ATA) advance seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index, which rose 0.3 percent in March.
 

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Inventories, up twenty-nine of the last thirty months, increased $1.9 billion or 0.3 percent to $618.4 billion. This was at the highest level since the series was first published on a NAICS basis in 1992 and followed a 0.3 percent February increase. The inventories-to-shipments ratio was 1.33, unchanged from February.

Inventories of manufactured durable goods in March, up twenty-seven consecutive months, increased $1.8 billion or 0.5 percent to $375.1 billion, revised from the previously published 0.4 percent increase. This was at the highest level since the series was first published on a NAICS basis and followed a 0.3 percent February increase.

Transportation equipment, also up twenty-seven consecutive months, had the largest increase, $0.8 billion or 0.7 percent to $118.1 billion.

Inventories of manufactured nondurable goods, up six of the last seven months, increased slightly to $243.2 billion. This followed a 0.3 percent February increase. Plastic and rubber products, up three consecutive months, drove the increase, up $0.3 billion or 1.3 percent to $21.2 billion.

Wood inventories dropped by 0.5 percent while Paper rose by 0.4 percent.
 

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New orders for manufactured goods in March, down two of the last three months, decreased $7.1 billion or 1.5 percent to $460.5 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau reported today. This followed a 1.1 percent February increase. Excluding transportation, new orders increased slightly.

New orders for manufactured durable goods in March, down two of the last three months, decreased $8.4 billion or 4.0 percent to $203.0 billion, revised from the previously published 4.2 percent decrease. This followed a 1.9 percent February increase.

Transportation equipment, also down two of the last three months, had the largest decrease, $7.1 billion or 12.6 percent to $49.6 billion.

New orders for manufactured nondurable goods increased $1.4 billion or 0.5 percent to $257.4 billion.