Numbers released by Panjiva, a firm that tracks overseas suppliers, show an uptick of 2% in the number of global manufacturers shipping to the U.S. market in May. It is the third monthly increase in a row.

The firm reports a metric that tracks manufacturers that have suffered a 50% or greater decline in volume shipped to U.S. customers in the most recent three-month period, versus the same period a year ago. These manufacturers are on the Panjiva Watch List. "Significant manufacturers" are those that have shipped 10 or more shipments to the U.S. over the past year. "Significant buyers" are those that have received 10 or more shipments from overseas manufacturers in the past year.

According to Panjiva, the number of ...

Canadian manufacturing sales edged down 0.1% to $41 billion in April, according to the latest report from Statistics Canada. Manufacturing sales leveled off between February and April, after falling by 18.7% between October 2008and January 2009. Sizable gains in the transportation equipment industry were offset by weakness in other industries. Excluding the transportation equipment industry, manufacturing sales decreased by 2.8%.

Constant dollar manufacturing sales gained 0.4% in April. The slight rise in constant dollar sales indicates an increase in the volume of sales between March and April. Although manufacturing sales remaining largely unchanged in April, sales decreased in 16 of 21 manufacturing industries.

By Sector
The weakness in most sectors was offset by a 16.4% gain in ...

Canadian industries continued to reduce their rate of capacity utilization in the first quarter of 2009, operating at 69.3% of production capacity, down 5.6 percentage points from the previous quarter. It was the first time that industrial capacity use fell below the 70% level since the start of the data series in 1987.

In the first quarter, durable goods industries, especially the transportation equipment industry, the construction sector, and the mining sector (excluding oil and gas extraction), were the main contributors to the overall decline. Weakened global and domestic demand for manufactured goods continued to drive down capacity utilization rates. Of the 21 major industries in the manufacturing group, 18 registered lower rates.

As it did in the fourth quarter of 2008, the ...

April 2009 wholesale revenues were $309.4 billion, down 0.4% from March and 19.5% from April 2008, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
 
April sales of durable goods were down 1.9% from last month and were down 23.4% from a year ago. Sales of motor vehicle and motor vehicle parts and supplies, were down 7.8% from last month and sales of metals and minerals, except petroleum were down 6.5%. Sales of nondurable goods were up 0.8% from last month, but were down 16.1% from last year.
 
Sales of farm product raw materials were up 10.5% from last month and sales of beer, wine, and distilled alcoholic beverages were up 2.6%.
 
Total inventories were $405.4 billion at the end of April, down 1.4% from the revised March level and were down 6.2% from a year ago. ...

April U.S. manufacturing technology consumption totaled $97.04 million, according to the Association For Manufacturing Technology and the American Machine Tool Distributors' Association. This total, as reported by companies participating in the USMTC program, was down 41.5% from March and down 77.7% from the total of $435.34 million reported for April 2008. With a year-to-date total of $497.40 million, 2009 is down 70.7% compared with 2008.

These numbers and all data in this report are based on the totals of actual data reported by companies participating in the USMTC program.

Industry executives have speculated whether we have reached the bottom of this current economic downturn, said Douglas K. Woods, AMT president. "The 41% drop in ...

New orders for manufactured goods in April, up two of the last three months, increased $2.5 billion or 0.7% to $344.4 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau reported. This followed a 1.9% March decrease. Excluding transportation, new orders increased 0.1%.
 
Shipments, down nine consecutive months, decreased $0.8 billion or 0.2% to $357.3 billion. This was the longest streak of consecutive monthly decreases since the series was first published on a NAICS basis in 1992 and followed a 1.8% March decrease. Unfilled orders, down seven consecutive months, decreased $8.9 billion or 1.2% to $748.7 billion.
 
This was the longest streak of consecutive monthly decreases since November 2001-July 2002. This followed a 1.7% March decrease. The unfilled orders-to-shipments ratio was ...

New orders for manufactured durable goods in April increased $3.0 billion or 1.9 percent to $161.5 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced. This was the second increase in the last three months and followed a 2.1 percent March decrease. Excluding transportation, new orders increased 0.8 percent. Excluding defense, new orders also increased 1.0 percent.
 
Transportation equipment, up three consecutive months, had the largest increase, $2.1 billion or 5.4 percent to $40.5 billion.
 
Shipments of manufactured durable goods in April, down nine consecutive months, decreased $0.3 billion or 0.2 percent to $174.2 billion. This was the longest streak of consecutive monthly decreases since the series was first published on a NAICS basis in 1992 and followed a 1.9 percent ...

The Industrial Product Price Index (IPPI) and the Raw Materials Price Index (RMPI) were both down 0.5% in April compared with March, halting their upward movements since the start of the year according to Statistics Canada.
 
The decline in the IPPI was led by lower prices for motor vehicles and other transport equipment (-2.2%) and pulp and paper products (-2.3%). These two product groups are more affected by fluctuations in the exchange rate.
 
The Canadian dollar rose 3.3% in April in relation to its US counterpart. If the exchange rate used to convert these prices had remained unchanged, the IPPI would have risen 0.3% instead of declining 0.5%.
 
12-month change
Year over year, the IPPI fell 2.2% in April following ...

The Chicago Fed Midwest Manufacturing Index (CFMMI) declined 1.1% in April to a seasonally adjusted level of 81.0 (2002 = 100). Revised data show the index decreased 2.9% in March to 81.8.
 
The Federal Reserve Board's industrial production index for manufacturing (IPMFG) edged down 0.2% in April. Regional output in April was down 22.7% from a year earlier - lower than the 14.3% decrease in national output.
 
The region's steel sector output declined 3.4% in April after dropping 6.1% in March. The nation's steel output was down 1.8%. Regional steel output dropped 36.0% from its April 2008 level, and national steel output fell 25.3%.
 
Regional auto sector production moved down 2.0% in April after decreasing 0.8% in March. The ...

U.S. manufacturing production continued to plummet in the first quarter of 2009 and global contagion continues, but a confluence of factors portend a modest rebound in 2010, according to the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI U.S. Industrial Outlook: The Great Recession, a quarterly report that analyzes 27 major industries.
 
On an annual basis, MAPI forecasts manufacturing production to fall 12% in 2009 and grow 2% in 2010.  Manufacturing industrial production, measured on a quarter-to-quarter basis, declined at a 22% annual rate in first quarter 2009 after falling at an 18% annual rate in fourth quarter 2008.
 
Production in non-high-tech manufacturing dropped by a precipitous 22% annual rate in the first quarter of 2009.  Non-high-tech ...