The US Census Bureau announced the combined value of distributive trade sales and manufacturers’ shipments for May, adjusted for seasonal and trading day differences but not for price changes, was estimated at $1,615.9 billion, down 0.3 percent (±0.2 percent) from April 2021, but was up 28.7 percent (±0.6 percent) from May 2020.
Manufacturers’ and trade inventories for May, adjusted for seasonal and trading day differences but not for price changes, were estimated at an end-of-month level of $2,039.3 billion, up 0.5 percent (±0.1 percent) from April 2021 and were up 4.5 percent (±0.5 percent) from May 2020.
The total business inventories/sales ratio based on seasonally adjusted data at the end of May was 1.26. The May 2020 ratio was 1.55.