October factory orders jump 9%
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, January 4, 2004
HIGH POINT — U.S. furniture factory orders took a 9% jump in October and shipments were up 2% over the same month last year — the fifth monthly gain in a row, according to BDO Seidman.
For the year to date, orders were running 3% behind the 2002 pace and shipments were down 2%.
"We realize that a few months of increases don't solve all of the problems of the industry, but it does appear that we have at least started on the road to recovery," said Ken Smith, national director of BDO's Furniture Industry Services. Most economic indicators continued to look positive for the residential furniture industry, including consumer confidence and home sales.
With a September increase of 6% in orders over the same month last year, U.S. factories "have had two solid months in a row of growth in new orders," Smith said.
Some 62% of manufacturers surveyed said their October orders were up from a year ago, compared with 58% in September and 50% in August.
Shipments were up 4% in September and 2% in October, according to the BDO survey. The monthly numbers could rise as factories fill orders from the two months.
Some 35% of the survey participants said shipments were still down 10% or more from 2002, but that was an improvement from 40% in September.
The number of factory employees grew 1% from September to October, BDO said. That was still down 11% from October 2002, but was the first month-to-month increase since April 2002.
| Factory orders, shipments in Oct. | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| In billions of dollars | |||
| Change from | |||
| Sept '03 | Oct '02 | ||
| Source: BDO Seidman |
|||
| Orders | $2.296 | 4% | 9% |
| Shipments | 2.263 | 1% | 2% |
| Order backlog | 1.649 | 5% | -8% |
| January-October | Change from 2002 | ||
| Orders | $20.079 | 3% | |
| Shipments | 20.581 | -2% | |
-
Orders up 3% for June
Sep 18, 2005 -
Furniture factory orders jump 12% in April
Jul 8, 2007 -
Factory orders, shipments up 3% in March
Jun 18, 2006
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