March furniture orders 9% higher than 2009

New orders in March were 9 percent higher than March 2009 and up 2 percent over February 2010, according to Smith Leonard’s Furniture Insights, a monthly survey of residential furniture manufacturers and distributors.
March 2009 orders were off 17 percent from March 2008. Approximately 61 percent of the participants had increased orders over last year with several up nice double digits. The 61 percent was up from 58 percent last month.
Shipments in March were 5 percent higher than March 2009 and up 12 percent over February. This marked the fourth straight month that overall shipments have increased. Approximately 61 percent of participants reported increased shipments year-to-date, up slightly from last month’s results.
Backlogs remained strong – up 34 percent over last March and up slightly over February. This was similar to the February to February results. As imported products begin to flow after the Chinese New Year, it’s expected that backlogs will work their way back down some although backlogs in March 2009 were down 21 percent from March 2008.