The combined value of distributive trade sales and manufacturers’ shipments for April, adjusted for seasonal and trading day differences but not for price changes, was estimated at $1,621.1 billion, up 0.6% from March and 40% from the same month a year ago, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Manufacturers’ and trade inventories for April, adjusted for seasonal and trading day differences but not for price changes, were estimated at an end-of-month level of $2,024.0 billion, down 0.2% from March 2021, but up 1.3% compared to April 2020.

The total business inventories/sales ratio based on seasonally adjusted data at the end of April was 1.25 while the April 2020 ratio was 1.73.