FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2010 AT 10:00 A.M. EDT

Timothy Winters (Retail): (301) 763-2713 CB10-129
John Miller (Wholesale): (301) 763-2703
Chris Savage (Manufacturing): (301) 763-4832

MANUFACTURING AND TRADE INVENTORIES AND SALES

July 2010
Sales. The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that the combined value of distributive trade sales and
manufacturers’ shipments for July, adjusted for seasonal and trading-day differences but not for price
changes, was estimated at $1,090.0 billion, up 0.7 percent (±0.2%) from June 2010, and up 9.2 percent
(±0.5%) from July 2009.

Inventories. Manufacturers’ and trade inventories, adjusted for seasonal variations but not for price
changes, were estimated at an end-of-month level of $1,375.7 billion, up 1.0 percent (±0.1%) from June
2010 and up 2.4 percent (±0.4%) from July 2009.

Inventories/Sales Ratio. The total business inventories/sales ratio based on seasonally adjusted data at the
end of July was 1.26. The July 2009 ratio was 1.35.

Total Business Inventories/Sales Ratios: 2001 to 2010

(Data adjusted for seasonal, holiday and trading-day differences but not for price changes)

1.50

1.45

1.40

1.35

1.30

1.25

1.20

1.15

1.10
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

The Manufacturing and Trade Inventories and Sales Report for August is scheduled to be released October
15, 2010 at 10:00 a.m. EDT.

For information, visit the Census Bureau’s Web site at <http://www.census.gov/bussales>. This report is
also available the day of issue through the Department of Commerce’s STAT-USA (202-482-1986).

* The 90 percent confidence interval includes zero. The Census Bureau does not have sufficient statistical
evidence to conclude that the actual change is different from zero.
Table 1. Estimated Monthly Sales and Inventories for Manufacturers, Retailers, and Merchant Wholesalers
(In millions of dollars)

Sales Inventories 1 Inventories/ Sales Ratios

Jul. 2010 Jun. 2010 Jul. 2009 Jul. 2010 Jun. 2010 Jul. 2009 Jul. 2010 Jun. 2010 Jul. 2009
(p) (r) (r) (p) (r) (r) (p) (r) (r)

Adjusted 2

Total business……………………………………… 1,090,044 1,082,515 997,809 1,375,733 1,362,503 1,343,452 1.26 1.26 1.35

Manufacturers3……………………………………… 417,089 412,660 381,862 526,001 520,897 513,340 1.26 1.26 1.34
Retailers………………………………………..……… 322,897 321,858 305,254 444,748 441,699 434,853 1.38 1.37 1.42
Merchant wholesalers4………………………… 350,058 347,997 310,693 404,984 399,907 395,259 1.16 1.15 1.27

Not Adjusted

Total business……………………………………… 1,088,091 1,134,098 1,007,380 1,368,502 1,353,978 1,335,757 1.26 1.19 1.33

Manufacturers3……………………………………… 407,856 438,567 375,680 530,591 520,862 517,098 1.30 1.19 1.38
Retailers………………………...……………..……… 331,030 329,011 313,669 434,484 435,751 424,660 1.31 1.32 1.35
Merchant wholesalers4………………………… 349,205 366,520 318,031 403,427 397,365 393,999 1.16 1.08 1.24

See footnotes and notes at the end of Table 3.

(p) Preliminary estimate.

(r) Revised estimate.

Table 2. Percent Changes for Sales and Inventories -- Manufacturers, Retailers, and Merchant Wholesalers

Adjusted Not Adjusted

Sales Inventories Sales Inventories
Jul. 10/ Jun. 10/ Jul. 10/ Jul. 10/ Jun. 10/ Jul. 10/ Jul. 10/ Jun. 10/ Jul. 10/ Jul. 10/ Jun. 10/ Jul. 10/

Jun. 10 May. 10 Jul. 09 Jun. 10 May. 10 Jul. 09 Jun. 10 May. 10 Jul. 09 Jun. 10 May. 10 Jul. 09

Total business………………… 0.7 -0.5 9.2 1.0 0.5 2.4 -4.1 3.0 8.0 1.1 0.2 2.5

Manufacturers3………………… 1.1 -0.5 9.2 1.0 0.1 2.5 -7.0 4.5 8.6 1.9 -0.6 2.6

Retailers…………………………… 0.3 -0.3 5.8 0.7 1.1 2.3 0.6 -1.6 5.5 -0.3 0.6 2.3

Merchant wholesalers4…… 0.6 -0.5 12.7 1.3 0.3 2.5 -4.7 5.7 9.8 1.5 0.7 2.4
Table 3. Estimated Monthly Retail Sales, Inventories, and Inventories/Sales Ratios, By Kind of Business
(In millions of dollars)

Sales Inventories1 Percent Change Inventories/Sales

NAICS Kindof Business InInventories Ratios
Code Jul. 2010 Jun. 2010 Jul. 2009 Jul. 2010 Jun. 2010 Jul. 2009 Jul. 10/ Jun. 10/ Jul. 10/ Jul. 10 Jun. 10 Jul. 09
(p) (r) (r) (p) (r) (r) Jun. 10 May. 10 Jul. 09 (p) (r) (r)
Adjusted2

Retail trade, total…………………………………………..…………………………………… 322,897 321,858 305,254 444,748 441,699 434,853 0.7 1.1 2.3 1.38 1.37 1.42
Total (excl. motor veh. &parts)…………………………………………..…………… 260,464 260,053 247,326 321,593 321,593 320,019 0.0 0.1 0.5 1.23 1.24 1.29

441 Motor vehicle&partsdealers…………………………………………..…………………… 62,433 61,805 57,928 123,155 120,106 114,834 2.5 3.7 7.2 1.97 1.94 1.98
442,3 Furniture,homefurn., elect. &appl. stores……………………………..…………… 16,221 16,204 15,432 28,122 28,226 27,299 -0.4 0.3 3.0 1.73 1.74 1.77

444 Buildingmaterials, gardenequip&supplies………………………………………… 23,291 23,374 22,386 43,904 44,099 43,965 -0.4 -1.1 -0.1 1.89 1.89 1.96

445 Food&beveragestores…………………………………………..……………………………… 48,451 48,679 47,922 37,336 37,408 37,800 -0.2 -0.1 -1.2 0.77 0.77 0.79
448 Clothing&clothingaccess. stores…………………………………..…………………… 18,072 18,118 17,376 42,175 42,211 43,383 -0.1 0.4 -2.8 2.33 2.33 2.50
452 General merchandisestores…………………………………………..……………………… 50,682 50,533 49,010 72,867 72,490 71,096 0.5 0.6 2.5 1.44 1.43 1.45

4521 Dept. strs. (excl. leaseddepts.)…………………………………………..……………… 15,419 15,570 15,568 31,652 31,489 32,121 0.5 -0.4 -1.5 2.05 2.02 2.06

Not Adjusted
Retail trade, total…………………………………………..……………………………………… 331,030 329,011 313,669 434,484 435,751 424,660 -0.3 0.6 2.3 1.31 1.32 1.35
Total (excl. motor veh. &parts)…………………………………………..…………… 262,094 262,330 249,450 316,210 314,972 314,338 0.4 -0.2 0.6 1.21 1.20 1.26

441 Motor vehicle&partsdealers…………………………………………..…………………… 68,936 66,681 64,219 118,274 120,779 110,322 -2.1 3.0 7.2 1.72 1.81 1.72

442,3 Furniture,homefurn., elect. &appl. stores……………………………..…………… 15,968 15,611 15,197 27,672 27,605 26,835 0.2 1.2 3.1 1.73 1.77 1.77

444 Buildingmaterials, gardenequip&supplies………………………………………… 25,581 28,411 24,867 43,202 44,584 43,349 -3.1 -4.0 -0.3 1.69 1.57 1.74

445 Food&beveragestores…………………………………………..……………………………… 50,418 48,497 49,570 36,563 37,090 37,022 -1.4 0.3 -1.2 0.73 0.76 0.75
448 Clothing&clothingaccess. stores…………………………………..…………………… 17,212 16,532 16,334 41,795 41,071 42,906 1.8 1.0 -2.6 2.43 2.48 2.63

452 General merchandisestores…………………………………………..……………………… 49,196 48,842 47,434 70,112 69,368 68,179 1.1 -0.3 2.8 1.43 1.42 1.44

4521 Dept. strs. (excl. leaseddepts.)…………………………………………..……………… 14,091 14,408 14,302 30,133 29,474 30,451 2.2 -1.8 -1.0 2.14 2.05 2.13

(p) Preliminary estimate.

(r) Revised estimate.

1 Inventories are on a non-LIFO basis as of the end of the month.

2 Adjusted for seasonal variations and, in the case of sales, for trading-day differences and holiday variations. Concurrent seasonal
adjustment is being used to adjust all sales, shipment and inventory estimates. Concurrent seasonal adjustment uses all available
unadjusted estimates as input to the X-12-ARIMA program. The factors derived from the program are applied to the current and
previous month estimates and for retail and wholesale estimates a year ago as well. For retail sales, concurrent seasonal adjustment
is also used to adjust the advance estimates (published one month before the preliminary estimates) and the estimates one year
before the advance month. This explains the revision to retail estimates from a year ago.
3 Manufacturers sales refer to the value of shipments by manufacturers. The shipments data from individual manufacturers are

adjusted prior to tabulation for the number of trading days as well as for any variations in the length of the reporting period.
4 The 2002 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) defines merchant wholesalers as including manufacturers’ sales

branches and offices. However, the estimates included in this release exclude manufacturers’ sales branches and offices. Note that
this is not a change in coverage from prior releases and is consistent with the description used in the Monthly Wholesale Trade Survey
data products.

Note: U.S. and group totals include kinds of business not shown. The Manufacturing and Trade Inventory and Sales estimates are
based on data from three surveys: the Monthly Retail Trade Survey, the Monthly Wholesale Trade Survey, and the Manufacturers’
Shipments, Inventories, and Orders Survey. The sampling variability for retailers and merchant wholesalers can be used to construct a
90 percent confidence interval for the estimates. Over all possible samples, 90 percent of such intervals will cover the true estimate.
These intervals are given in parentheses for the estimates on the front page. If, for example, the estimate is up 0.8 percent and the
margin of sampling error is ±1.2 percent, the 90 percent confidence interval is -0.4 percent to +2.0 percent. If the range contains 0,
it is uncertain whether there was an increase or decrease. Measures of reliability for Retail and Wholesale sales and inventory levels
and changes are included in the detailed monthly press releases for those Industries. Manufacturers do not contribute to estimates of
sampling variability because the manufacturer’s mail panel is not a probability sample from a known frame and standard errors of the
industry estimates cannot be calculated. Estimates from all three surveys are also subject to nonsampling errors, which can arise in
any stage of the survey. Such errors include coverage error (failure to accurately represent all population units in the sample)
response errors, coding errors, and nonresponse. Although no direct measurement of these errors has been obtained, precautionary
steps were taken in all phases of the collection, processing, and tabulation of the data to minimize their influence.