Manufacturing Shipments and Trade Sales Down in January

Washington, DC, March 15, 2016—The combined value of distributive trade sales and manufacturers’ shipments for January was estimated at $1,296.2 billion, down 0.4% from December 2015 and down 1.1% from January 2015, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Manufacturers’ and trade inventories, adjusted for seasonal variations but not for price changes, were estimated at an end-of-month level of $1,812.3 billion, up 0.1% from December 2015 and up 1.8% from January 2015.

The total business inventories/sales ratio based on seasonally adjusted data at the end of January was 1.40. The January 2015 ratio was 1.36.