Furniture Insights: New orders up 6% in July

Time：2019-10-08 16:46:30    Share：

New orders pick up after five months of declines

New orders for furniture rose in July for the first time since January, increasing 6% from July 2018 levels according to the Furniture Insights survey of furniture manufacturers and distributors from accounting and consulting firm Smith Leonard.

After July’s increase, the year-to-date decline in orders was reduced to 2%, compared with a 3% decrease reported through June. Still, new orders year to date remained down for 67% of survey participants, about the same as reported last month.

July shipments increased 1% over July 2018 and declined 12% from June. “That decrease is somewhat typical due to the July vacation week shutdown for most,” Smith said. “Even with the overall increase, shipments were down for 56% of the participants.”

Shipments through July remained flat compared with the same point last year, with some 55% of survey participants reported decline in shipments. Backlogs were up 7% in July compared with June and up 1% from last July.