Furniture Orders Trending Up

May 30, 2011  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in economic news on May 31, 2011 Furniture orders in March were up 11 percent from the same month last year, and climbed 14 percent from the previous month, according to the latest "Furniture Insights" from Smith Leonard.

The March 2011 results put the year-to-date orders up 4 percent over the first quarter of 2010. The first quarter of 2010 report indicated orders up 9 percent over 2009.

About 64 percent of the furniture manufacturers and distributors participating in the survey reported increased orders in March. About half €” 51 percent €” are reporting increased order rates, up from 44 percent last month.

Shipments for March were 7 percent higher than March 2010 when they were 5 percent higher than March 2009.

Year-to-date shipments were up 3 percent over the same period last year, when they were up 5 percent over the first quarter of 2009. Backlogs were 5 percent higher than February 2011 due to orders exceeding shipments. Backlogs were 2 percent lower than March 2010 compared to a 5 percent decline reported last month.