In terms of inventories, merchant wholesalers, excluding manufacturers’ sales branches and offices, saw their stock levels rise to $897.2 billion at the end of December, a 0.4 per cent increase from November's revised levels. Despite this monthly increase, the total inventories experienced a decline of 2.7 per cent when compared to December 2022. The inventory adjustment for November to December remained stable at a 0.4 per cent increase, as initially estimated.
The inventories to sales ratio for December stood at 1.34, a decrease from the 1.40 ratio recorded in December 2022, as per the census bureau.
Additionally, there was a widening in the nation's international trade deficit in goods and services, which increased to $62.2 billion in December from the $61.9 billion deficit reported in November. This rise in the trade deficit was attributed to imports growing at a faster pace than exports.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DP)