The US Census Bureau announced the combined value of distributive trade sales and manufacturers’ shipments for March, adjusted for seasonal and trading day differences but not for price changes, was estimated at $1,386.1 billion, down 5.2 percent (±0.2 percent) from February 2020 and was down 4.9 percent (±0.3 percent) from March 2019.
Manufacturers’ and trade inventories for March, adjusted for seasonal variations but not for price changes, were estimated at an end-of-month level of $2,012.5 billion, down 0.2 percent (±0.1 percent) from February 2020 and were down 0.3 percent (±0.4 percent) from March 2019.
The total business inventories/sales ratio based on seasonally adjusted data at the end of March was 1.45. The March 2019 ratio was 1.38.