Daily News
From Home Furnishing Business
Smith Leonard: Furniture Orders Up 34% in February
April 30,
2021 by Laurie Northington in Business Strategy, Industry 
New orders in February were up 34% over February 2020, marking nine straight months of large double-digit percentage increases, according to a report by Smith Leonard accounting and consulting firm.
The firm’s monthly survey of residential furniture manufacturers and distributors show new order increases for 94% of the participants.
Shipments in February were up 18% over February 2020 and were now up 13% year to date. Finally, new orders can start to convert to real dollars. Shipments were up for 81% of the participants in February. However, new orders exceeded shipments, so backlogs grew again, up 5% over January and a whopping 184% over February 2020.
Receivable levels continue to be in good shape for the most part. Inventory levels are building as they should with orders up, so the 15% increase over last year levels is really not a concern.
The number of factory and warehouse employees remains too low for the need, but getting workers has become a major issue for so many. There are still too many people that see no need to work when they can get as much or almost as much from government programs and not have to work. This issue is hitting so many industries.