Distrib. Trade Sales & Manufacturers' Shipments Rose 0.2% in August

Washington, DC, October 16, 2019-The combined value of distributive trade sales and manufacturers’ shipments for August was estimated at $1,463.9 billion, up 0.2% from July 2019 and was up 1.1% from August 2018.

Manufacturers’ and trade inventories were estimated at an end-of-month level of $2,042.1 billion, virtually unchanged from July 2019, but were up 4.2% from August 2018.

The total business inventories/sales ratio based on seasonally adjusted data at the end of August was 1.40. The August 2018 ratio was 1.35.