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Wholesale Inventories down 1.5% in February
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The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that February 2009 sales of merchant wholesalers, except manufacturers’ sales branches and offices, after adjustment for seasonal variations and trading-day differences but not for price changes, were $319.7 billion, up 0.6 percent (+/-0.7%) from the revised January level and were down 14.3 percent (+/-1.6%) from the February 2008 level. The January preliminary estimate was revised downward $0.7 billion or 0.2 percent. February sales of durable goods were up 2.0 percent (+/-1.4%) from last month, but were down 14.8 percent (+/-2.1%) from a year ago. Compared to last month, sales of motor vehicle and motor vehicle parts and supplies were up 3.7 percent, while sales of metals and minerals, except petroleum, were down 5.6 percent. Sales of nondurable goods were down 0.4 percent (+/-0.7%) from last month and were down 13.8 percent (+/-1.6%) from last year. Sales of chemicals and allied products were down 4.6 percent from last month.
Total inventories of merchant wholesalers, except manufacturers’ sales branches and offices, after adjustment for seasonal variations but not for price changes, were $419.3 billion at the end of February, down 1.5 percent (+/-0.4%) from the revised January level, and were down 1.7 percent (+/-0.9%) from a year ago. The January preliminary estimate was revised upward $0.2 billion. End-of-month inventories of durable goods were down 2.4 percent (+/-0.5%) from last month, but were up 0.7 percent (+/-1.1%) from last February. Inventories of motor vehicle and motor vehicle parts and supplies were down 7.9 percent from last month and inventories of furniture and home furnishings were down 3.0 percent. End-of month inventories of nondurable goods decreased 0.2 percent (+/-0.5%) from January and were down 5.5 percent (+/-1.9%) compared to last February. Inventories of farm product raw materials were down 5.4 percent from last month, and inventories of paper and paper products were down 4.8 percent.
The February inventories/sales ratio for merchant wholesalers, except manufacturers’ sales branches and offices, based on seasonally adjusted data, was 1.31. The February 2008 ratio was 1.14.
Posted: April 8, 2009 Wednesday 10:00 AM