The following is the unedited transcript of the news release from the U.S. Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce.
Sales
The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that September 2009 sales of merchant wholesalers, except manufacturers’ sales branches and offices, after adjustment for seasonal variations and trading-day differences but not for price changes, were $320.2 billion, up 0.7 percent (+/-1.1%)* from the revised August level, but were down 15.2 percent (+/-1.6%) from the September 2008 level. The August preliminary estimate was revised upward $0.2 billion or 0.1 percent. September sales of durable goods were up 0.7 percent (+/-1.2%)* from last month, but were down 16.2 percent (+/-2.5%) from a year ago. Sales of nondurable goods were up 0.6 percent (+/-1.2%)* from last month, but were down 14.3 percent (+/-1.8%) from last year.
Inventories
Total inventories of merchant wholesalers, except manufacturers’ sales branches and offices, after adjustment for seasonal variations but not for price changes, were $377.7 billion at the end of September, down 0.9 percent (+/-0.5%) from the revised August level and were down 15.0 percent (+/-1.1%) from a year ago. The August preliminary estimate was revised downward $0.1 billion. End-of-month inventories of durable goods were down 0.9 percent (+/-0.5%) from last month and were down 16.6 percent (+/-1.1%) from last September. Inventories of metals and minerals, except petroleum, were down 2.5 percent from last month and inventories of machinery, equipment, and supplies were down 1.4 percent. End-of-month inventories of nondurable goods were down 0.9 (+/-0.7%) from August and were down 12.4 percent (+/-1.4%) compared to last September. Inventories of farm product raw materials were down 5.6 percent from last month and inventories of beer, wine, and distilled alcoholic beverages were down 4.8 percent.
Inventories/Sales Ratio
The September inventories/sales ratio for merchant wholesalers, except manufacturers’ sales branches and offices, based on seasonally adjusted data, was 1.18. The September 2008 ratio was 1.18.
Available at:
http://www2.census.gov/wholesale/pdf/mwts/currentwhl.pdf |
