June orders up 1%, first monthly gain of '03
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, September 8, 2003
High Point — U.S. furniture factory orders in June were up 1% from the same month last year, the first monthly gain of 2003, according to BDO Seidman's estimate.
Shipments were still down slightly, 2% below June 2002, the accounting and consulting firm's monthly survey of factories indicated.
For the first half of 2003, orders were down 8% and shipments were down 5% from the year before, a slight improvement from the year-to-date numbers at the end of May, BDO said.
Order backlogs in June were down 13% from a year earlier, which also represented a slight pickup from the 15% decrease reported in May.
Ken Smith, national director of BDO's Furniture Industry Services, said in the firm's monthly Furniture Insights newsletter the industry is benefiting from some positive economic news.
"Based on recent conversations with retailers and manufacturers, business has clearly improved. Certainly not to levels we would all hope for, but at least we may be headed back in the right direction," Smith said.
He added that BDO continues to forecast that factory business will pick up in the second half, with a 4% to 5% increase over last year.
There will be a similar gain in 2004, BDO forecasts.
| Factory orders, shipments in June | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| In billions of dollars | |||
| Change from | |||
| May '03 | June '02 | ||
| Source: BDO Seidman | |||
| Orders | $2.058 | 4% | 1% |
| Shipments | 2.200 | 8% | -2% |
| Order backlog | 1.564 | -5% | -13% |
| January-June | Change from 2002 | ||
| Orders | $11.648 | -8% | |
| Shipments | 12.183 | -5% | |
