U.S. Wholesale Inventories Fell in January for the First Time Since July 2020

Still Up 15.8% Since January 2022

On Tuesday, the U.S. Census Bureau announced the following new wholesale trade statistics for January 2023:

Sales

• January 2023 sales of merchant wholesalers, except manufacturers’ sales branches and offices, were $693.8 billion, up 1.0% from the December level and up 3.6% from the January 2022 level.
• The November 2022 to December 2022 % change was revised from the preliminary estimate of virtually unchanged to down 0.2%.

Inventories

• Total inventories of merchant wholesalers, except manufacturers’ sales branches and offices were $929.0 billion at the end of January, down 0.4% from the December level.
• Total inventories were up 15.8% from the January 2022 level.
• The December 2022 to January 2023 % change was unrevised from the advance estimate of down 0.4%.

Inventories/Sales Ratio

• The January inventories/sales ratio for merchant wholesalers, except manufacturers’ sales branches and offices was 1.34.
• The January 2022 ratio was 1.20.

Wholesale Inventories – Last 20 Years

Sources: census.gov