WASHINGTON — The U.S. Census Bureau reported Wednesday that September 2007 sales of merchant wholesalers were up 1.3 percent to $366.8 billion from August and up 9.9 percent from September 2006.
September sales of durable goods rose 0.3 percent from last month and were up 4.6 percent from a year ago. Sales of motor vehicle and motor vehicle parts and supplies increased 4.1 percent, while sales of metals and minerals, except petroleum were down 3.7 percent.
Sales of nondurable goods rose 2.1 percent from last month and were up 15.1 percent from last year. Sales of petroleum and petroleum products rose 7.7 percent from last month. Sales of farm product raw materials increased 5.2 percent.
Total inventories of merchant wholesalers increased 0.8 percent from August to $404.5 billion. The September 2007 total was an increase of 5.2 percent from a year ago.
End-of-month inventories of durable goods were up 0.7 percent from last month and up 1.3 percent from last September. Inventories of computer and computer peripheral equipment and software were up 2.0 percent from August.
End-of-month inventories of nondurable goods rose 1 percent from August and were up 12.2 percent over last September. Inventories of farm product raw materials were up 9.6 percent from last month.
The September inventories/sales ratio for merchant wholesalers was 1.10. The September 2006 ratio was 1.15.
For more information, click here.