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 May 2007 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 $357.2 billion, up 1.3% from the revised April level and were up 8.7% from the May 2006 level. The April preliminary estimate was revised upward $0.8 billion or 0.2%.

May sales of durable goods were down 0.5 percent (+/-1.0%)* from last month, but were up 4.2 percent (+/-2.0%) from a year ago. Compared to last month, sales of motor vehicle and motor vehicle parts and supplies were down 5.3 percent. May sales of nondurable goods were up 2.9 percent (+/-0.7%) from last month and were up 13.1 percent (+/-2.1%) from last year. Compared to last month, sales of farm product raw materials were up 9.5 percent and sales of petroleum and petroleum products increased 5.3 percent.

Inventories

Total inventories of merchant wholesalers, except manufacturers’ sales branches and offices, after adjustment for seasonal variations but not for price changes, were $396.7 billion at the end of May, up 0.5% from last month and were up 6.7% from a year ago. The April preliminary estimate was revised upward $0.3 billion. End-of-month inventories of durable goods increased 0.6% from last month and were up 5.0% from last May.

Inventories of metals and minerals, except petroleum increased 2.5 percent from last month and inventories of electrical and electronic goods increased 1.9 percent. End-of-month inventories of nondurable goods increased 0.2 percent (+/-0.5%)* from April and were up 9.7 percent (+/-3.6%) compared to last May. Inventories of grocery and related products were up 1.6 percent, while inventories of petroleum and petroleum products decreased 3.4 percent from last month.

Inventories/Sales Ratio

The May inventories/sales ratio for merchant wholesalers, except manufacturers’ sales branches and offices, based on seasonally adjusted data, was 1.11. The May 2006 ratio was 1.13.


Available at:

http://www.census.gov/mwts/www/currentwhl.html