Factory orders rise 11% in Jan.; shipments up 1%
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, April 5, 2004
HIGH POINT — U.S. residential furniture factory orders in January jumped 11% from the same month a year ago, the eighth consecutive monthly gain, according to BDO Seidman.
The comparison came against a weak January 2003, when orders were off 7% from a year earlier. Still, the continued improvement was "welcome news," the accounting and consulting firm said.
BDO said 63% of the participants in its factory survey reported their orders were up in January and only 15% saw declines. For all of 2003, only 35% of companies reported increases in orders.
Shipments weren't as strong, with the January 2004 level up 1% from a year ago.
Ken Smith, national director of BDO's Furniture Industry Services, noted in the firm's monthly Furniture Insights newsletter that "only 37% of the participants reported an increase in shipments over last January, even with order rates up for several months in a row for a much larger percentage of the participants. This should mean that February and March shipments should show more improvement."
Economic indicators were about evenly split between positive and negative trends for the furniture industry, he said. Housing remained strong, for instance, but consumer confidence dipped.
"Business does feel better," Smith said. "From most comments we have heard about premarket, most companies were reasonably up at best. As we have said so many times before, business in our industry never comes back at full speed. Accordingly, we expect there will be some continued ups and downs for many in the industry."
| Factory orders, shipments in Jan. | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| In billions of dollars | |||
| Dec. '03 | Jan. '03 | ||
| Change from | |||
| Source: BDO Seidman | |||
| Orders | $2.073 | 8% | 11% |
| Shipments | 1.888 | -8% | 1% |
| Order backlog | 1.743 | 8% | 4% |
