by For the full year, orders were down 33% from 2021 levels according to Smith Leonard report
HIGH POINT — New orders for furniture in December were down 31% from December 2021 and down 33% for the full year according to the latest Furniture Insights report from Smith Leonard.
New orders totaled nearly $1.9 billion, compared to $2.7 billion in December 2021. Year over year, they were down for 88% of survey participants, marking a full year of monthly double-digit declines.
For the full year new orders totaled $24.9 billion, compared to $37.5 billion in 2021, when they were up 14% over 2020. The report added that in 2020 they were up 15% over 2019, despite two to three month shutdowns in many areas of the country. For the full year 2022, new orders were down for 94% of the survey participants.
New orders fell slightly in December, to $1.88 billion, from $1.94 billion in November.
Meanwhile, December furniture shipments were up 3% from December 2021 — due to backlogs — and were up 5% year to date compared to the same period in 2021, when they were up 20% over 2020, the report said. The year-over-year December shipments were up for 56% of the survey participants and were up for 70% of the participants for the full year.
Shipments totaled $2.5 billion in December compared to $2.4 billion in December 2021. For the full year, shipments totaled $34.2 billion in 2022 compared to $32.4 billion in 2021.
Backlogs for the month of December totaled $3.9 billion, compared to $9.1 billion in December 2021. They also fell slightly for the month of December from $4.3 billion in November.
“As shipments continued to exceed new orders, backlogs fell again in December, down 9% from November the report said. “Backlogs were down 43% from December 2021 when they were up 46% from December 2020. December 2020 was when backlogs really went up in big numbers as orders were really coming in for most anything dealers could sell.”
Shipments also fell slightly in December, from $2.5 billion in November.
Other highlights of the report are as follows:
+ Receivable levels fell 5% from November, in line with the drop in shipments, the report said. They were up 3% from last December, which the report said was the same as the increase in December to December shipments. “ With shipments year to date up 5% over the prior year, the increase in receivables is very much in line.”
+ Inventories fell 2% in December from November, but were up 36% from December 2021. “As most participants are working hard to get inventories down, the decline in order rates is making it hard to reduce inventories as most would like,” the report said.
+ The level of factory and warehouse workers was steady with November levels, but down 2% from December 2021. “The results for the individual participants were quite mixed as the number with declines in employees was about even with those still showing increases.”
