BDO: Orders, shipments slump in Sept.
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, December 2, 2001
HIGH POINT — U.S. residential furniture factories took double-digit hits in September, with new orders down 11% from September 2000 and shipments falling 14% from a year ago, according to BDO Seidman's latest survey.
Through the first nine months of 2001, orders were down 10% from last year, BDO estimated.
"Realistically, we do not see much improvement, if any, in the fourth quarter," said Ken Smith, director of BDO's furniture industry services, in the accounting and consulting firm's Furniture Insights newsletter.
Traffic has begun to pick up in stores, but consumer confidence will have to improve before the industry can count on a significant rise in purchases, he said.
"We do believe things will get better, maybe a lot better, when the consumer starts to spend again," said Smith. "With housing having been so strong for so long, there must be some pent-up demand. The key is to hang on until the better times come."
While an 11% decline in September orders may not seem so bad given the events of that month, BDO noted the month was compared with a weak September 2000, which itself was off 11% from the previous September. It was the first month in 2000 that the BDO survey indicated a decline from a year earlier.
Shipments in September 2000 were flat with September 1999, the firm said.
For the first nine months of this year, shipments were down 9% from last year's pace and "will likely decline a little more by the end of the year," BDO said.
The survey indicated that order backlogs in September were down 22% from a year earlier. Backlogs were down 5% from August of this year as shipments exceeded orders. Meanwhile, furniture factory employment was off 14% from a year ago and payrolls were down 18%.
As first reported in eDaily
| U.S. furniture factory orders, shipments in September | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| In billions of current dollars | |||
| August '01 | September '00 | ||
| Change from | |||
| Orders | $1.895 | -5% | -11% |
| Shipments | 2.125 | 1% | -14% |
| Order backlog | 2.007 | -5% | -22% |
| January - September | Change from 2000 | ||
| Orders | $18.337 | -10% | |
| Shipments | 18.575 | -9% | |
| Source: BDO Seidman | |||
-
June factory orders down 16% from '08
Sep 7, 2009 -
Factory orders, shipments fall 16% in August
Nov 9, 2008 -
June factory orders, shipments flat
Oct 1, 2006 -
Jan. orders up 6%, BDO says
Apr 23, 2006
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