BDO says factory orders up 6% in '04
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, March 1, 2005
HIGH POINT -- Despite a rise in direct imports, orders and shipments from U.S. furniture factories grew 6% in 2004, according to BDO Seidman.
In its final monthly report for the year, the accounting and consulting firm said its survey of residential furniture factories indicated that orders in December were up 3% from December 2003 and shipments rose 9%.
For the year, BDO estimated orders at $25.7 billion and shipments at $26.1 billion. The gains weren't shared evenly — 56% of participants in the firm's survey reported higher orders and shipments and the remainder said their numbers were flat or down. In shipments, 30% said their business was up 10% or more and 16% said their volume declined by that much.
Ken Smith, national director of BDO's Furniture Industry Services, said 2004 was "a pretty good year" for the industry's growth. Units shipped probably grew even more than 6%, because some imported product was shipped at lower cost, he said.
While the $26.1 billion in shipments is higher than the level of the past two years, it is still 3.5% lower than 2000, the peak year for U.S. factories, Smith said.
"These numbers are not totally comparable to the industry as a whole as so many retailers are now importing directly and not going through the traditional purchasing from domestic manufacturers or domestic importers. But it does indicate the difficulties domestic producers have had over the last few years," he said.
The BDO survey doesn't capture direct imports.
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'04 orders, shipments up 6%
Mar 20, 2005
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