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FOR RELEASE AT 8:30 AM EST, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27, 2021

MONTHLY ADVANCE REPORT ON DURABLE GOODS MANUFACTURERS’ SHIPMENTS, 

INVENTORIES AND ORDERS DECEMBER 2020

Release Number: CB 21-09 M3-1 (20)-12

Statement Regarding COVID-19 Impact: The Census Bureau continues to monitor response and data 

quality and has determined that estimates in this release meet publication standards. For more 

information, see < M3 COVID-19 FAQs>.

JANUARY 27, 2021 — The U.S. Census Bureau announces the December advance report on durable goods 

manufacturers’ shipments, inventories and orders:

New Orders

New orders for manufactured durable goods in December increased $0.4 billion or 0.2 percent to $245.3

billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced today. This increase, up eight consecutive months, followed a

1.2 percent November increase. Excluding transportation, new orders increased 0.7 percent. Excluding 

defense, new orders increased 0.5 percent. Machinery, also up eight consecutive months, drove the 

increase, $0.8 billion or 2.4 percent to $33.2 billion.

DURABLE GOODS – NEW ORDERS

DECEMBER 2020 $245.3 billion +0.2%°

NOVEMBER 2020

(revised) $244.9 billion +1.2%°

Next release: February 25, 2021

Data adjusted for seasonal variation but not for price changes.

°Statistical significance is not measurable for this survey. The Manufacturers' Shipments, 

Inventories, and Orders estimates are not based on a probability sample, so the sampling 

error of these estimates cannot be measured nor can the confidence intervals be computed.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories and Orders, January 27, 

2021.

Dec-19 Jan-20 Feb-20 Mar-20 Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20

% Change 2.8% -0.2% 2.0% -16.7% -18.3% 15.0% 7.7% 11.8% 0.4% 2.1% 1.8% 1.2% 0.2%

-19.0%

-18.0%

-17.0%

-16.0%

-15.0%

-14.0%

-13.0%

-12.0%

-11.0%

-10.0%

-9.0%

-8.0%

-7.0%

-6.0%

-5.0%

-4.0%

-3.0%

-2.0%

-1.0%

0.0%

1.0%

2.0%

3.0%

4.0%

5.0%

6.0%

7.0%

8.0%

9.0%

10.0%

11.0%

12.0%

13.0%

14.0%

15.0%

16.0%

DURABLE GOODS NEW ORDERS 2019-2020

Seasonally Adjusted, Month-To-Month Percentage Change

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories, and Orders, 

January 27, 2021.
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Shipments

Shipments of manufactured durable goods in December, up seven of the last eight months, increased $3.5

billion or 1.4 percent to $253.8 billion. This followed a 0.4 percent November increase. Transportation 

equipment, also up seven of the last eight months, led the increase, $2.2 billion or 2.7 percent to $84.8

billion.

Unfilled Orders

Unfilled orders for manufactured durable goods in December, down nine of the last ten months,

decreased $3.2 billion or 0.3 percent to $1,070.4 billion. This followed a virtually unchanged November

decrease. Transportation equipment, down ten consecutive months, drove the decrease, $6.8 billion or

0.9 percent to $706.3 billion.

Inventories

Inventories of manufactured durable goods in December, down following three consecutive monthly 

increases, decreased $0.7 billion or 0.2 percent to $425.9 billion. This followed a 0.9 percent November

increase. Transportation equipment, down following four consecutive monthly increases, drove the 

decrease, $2.8 billion or 1.8 percent to $148.0 billion. 

Capital Goods

Nondefense new orders for capital goods in December decreased $1.4 billion or 2.0 percent to $70.3

billion. Shipments increased $2.4 billion or 3.3 percent to $74.2 billion. Unfilled orders decreased $4.0

billion or 0.7 percent to $587.7 billion. Inventories decreased $1.7 billion or 0.9 percent to $194.4 billion. 

Defense new orders for capital goods in December decreased $0.7 billion or 5.3 percent to $11.8 billion. 

Shipments decreased $0.7 billion or 5.1 percent to $12.7 billion. Unfilled orders decreased $1.0 billion or 

0.5 percent to $177.6 billion. Inventories increased less than $0.1 billion or 0.2 percent to $21.1 billion.

Revised November Data

Revised seasonally adjusted November figures for all manufacturing industries were: new orders, $487.8

billion (revised from $487.2 billion); shipments, $493.1 billion (revised from $492.9 billion); unfilled orders, 

$1,073.6 billion (revised from $1,073.2 billion) and total inventories, $693.6 billion (revised from $692.9

billion).

Revised and more detailed estimates, plus nondurable goods data, will be published on February 4, 2021,

at 10:00 a.m. EST. The Advance Report on durable goods for January is scheduled for release on February

25, 2021 at 8:30 a.m. EST. View the full schedule in the Economic Briefing Room:
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<https://www.census.gov/economic-indicators/>. The full text and tables of this release can be found at

<www.census.gov/m3>.

EXPLANATORY NOTES

Figures in text are adjusted for seasonality, but not for inflation. Figures on new and unfilled orders 

exclude data for semiconductor manufacturing. 

“Virtually unchanged” indicates that the change is less than 0.05 percent for a percent increase or 

decrease.

Description of the survey

This report is compiled from results of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Manufacturers’ Shipments, 

Inventories, and Orders (M3) survey, which is a voluntary survey authorized by Title 13 of the United 

States Code. This survey provides statistics on a calendar-month basis for manufacturers' value of 

shipments, new orders (net of cancellations), end-of-month order backlog (unfilled orders), end-ofmonth total inventory (at current cost or market value), and inventories by stage of fabrication 

(materials and supplies, work-in-process, and finished goods). Data published from the M3 survey are 

based on a panel of approximately 5,000 reporting units that represent approximately 3,100 

companies and provide an indication of month-to-month change for the Manufacturing Sector. These 

reporting units may be divisions of diversified large companies, large homogenous companies, or 

single-unit manufacturers in 92 industry categories, which are combined into 65 publication levels due 

to the small monthly panel size. The survey methodology assumes that the month-to-month changes 

of the total operations of the reporting units in the M3 panel effectively represent the month-tomonth movements of all establishments that make up the category. The companies for which 

shipments data are currently reported or imputed in the M3 survey represent approximately 60

percent of the total value of shipments for manufacturing establishments in the 2017 Economic 

Census, and these companies include roughly 61 percent of the manufacturing companies with $500 

million or more in shipments in the 2017 Economic Census. The companies for which shipments data 

are currently reported in the M3 survey represent approximately 51 percent of the total value of 

shipments for manufacturing establishments in the 2017 Economic Census. Statistics based on the M3 

panel differ from the results that would be obtained from a complete enumeration of all 

manufacturing companies. The M3 panel is not based on a probability sample; therefore, the sampling 

errors that are normally provided with sample surveys cannot be measured. Nonsampling errors are 

attributable to many sources. The use of company or divisional reports to estimate the monthly 
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change for establishments is one source of nonsampling error. The use of primarily large companies to 

represent the month-to-month movement of all companies is another potential source. Any 

corrections will be published in the full report. Corrections received after the full report will be 

released in the next month’s advance report. Any revisions made later than two months will be 

reflected in the annual benchmark publication. Additional survey documentation can be found on our 

web site: <www.census.gov/manufacturing/m3/how_the_data_are_collected/index.html>.

Benchmark notice

Revised historical data from the Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories, and Orders (M3) Survey will 

be issued on May 14, 2021. These revisions result from

• benchmarking the M3 shipments and inventories data to the 2019 and 2018 Annual Survey of 

Manufactures (ASM) data, as well as to revised ASM data from 2013 through 2016, resulting 

from benchmarking the ASM to the 2017 Economic Census; 

• incorporating the unfilled orders to shipments ratios obtained for 2019 and 2018 from the 

Manufacturers’ Unfilled Orders (M3UFO) Survey by applying these ratios to the respective ASM 

shipments data, as well as incorporating revised unfilled orders to shipments ratios for prior 

years;

• adjusting the new orders data to be consistent with the benchmarked shipments and unfilled 

orders data;

• correcting monthly data for late receipts, reclassifications of reported data, and revisions to 

previously reported data;

• updating the seasonally adjusted data based on the results of benchmarking and the recent 

annual review of the seasonal adjustment models. 

These revisions will span the seasonally adjusted data for January 2007 through March 2021 and the 

data not seasonally adjusted for January 2012 through March 2021. An updated Press Release will 

contain revised monthly tables for January 2021 through March 2021. 
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RESOURCES

API

The Census Bureau’s application programming interface (API) lets developers create custom apps to reach 

new users and makes key demographic, socio-economic and housing statistics more accessible than ever 

before.

<www.census.gov/developers/>

FRED Mobile App

Receive the latest updates on the nation’s key economic indicators by downloading 

the FRED App <https://fred.stlouisfed.org/fred-mobile/> for both Apple and 

Android devices. FRED, the signature database of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. 

Louis, now incorporates the Census Bureau’s 13 economic indicators.

###
Table 1. Durable Goods Manufacturers' Shipments and New Orders 1

[Estimates are shown in millions of dollars and are based on data from the Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories, and Orders Survey.]

Seasonally Adjusted Not Seasonally Adjusted 

Monthly Percent Change Monthly Year to Date

Item Percent

Dec Nov Oct Nov - Oct - Sep - Dec Nov Dec Change

2020 22020 r

2020 Dec 2

Nov r Oct 2020 22020 r

2019 2020 2019 2020/2019

DURABLE GOODS

 Total:

 Shipments................................ 253,795 250,277 249,356 1.4 0.4 1.5 254,096 240,184 241,127 2,832,352 2,981,801 -5.0

 New Orders4.............................. 245,325 244,937 242,098 0.2 1.2 1.8 253,528 233,023 244,294 2,697,569 2,901,103 -7.0

 Excluding transportation:

 Shipments................................ 169,024 167,713 167,262 0.8 0.3 2.1 169,725 160,569 159,517 1,938,240 1,950,808 -0.6

 New Orders4.............................. 167,305 166,100 164,733 0.7 0.8 2.0 168,514 157,138 153,714 1,892,228 1,893,339 -0.1

 Excluding defense:

 Shipments................................ 239,509 235,146 234,892 1.9 0.1 1.3 238,073 224,399 226,314 2,662,389 2,814,298 -5.4

 New Orders4.............................. 232,537 231,270 228,562 0.5 1.2 0.8 235,189 218,702 217,554 2,528,670 2,723,259 -7.1

 Manufacturing with unfilled orders:

 Shipments................................ 169,845 167,788 168,427 1.2 -0.4 2.9 172,775 160,547 171,228 1,955,860 2,072,748 -5.6

 New Orders.............................. 166,624 167,565 166,341 -0.6 0.7 3.2 176,848 159,282 178,714 1,881,218 2,050,630 -8.3

 Primary metals:

 Shipments................................ 19,654 19,280 18,840 1.9 2.3 2.6 18,213 17,795 17,285 222,181 238,516 -6.8

 New Orders.............................. 19,890 19,829 19,616 0.3 1.1 1.3 19,176 18,805 17,767 224,193 239,039 -6.2

 Fabricated metal products:

 Shipments................................ 31,206 30,989 30,898 0.7 0.3 2.5 29,453 29,308 29,307 362,642 380,477 -4.7

 New Orders.............................. 32,110 31,927 32,023 0.6 -0.3 2.8 30,062 29,791 28,682 365,980 380,011 -3.7

 Machinery:

 Shipments................................ 31,801 31,557 31,514 0.8 0.1 1.5 33,009 29,122 32,362 369,052 384,961 -4.1

 New Orders.............................. 33,156 32,367 31,877 2.4 1.5 0.3 33,767 29,630 31,060 373,391 382,627 -2.4

 Computers and electronic products4:

 Shipments................................ 30,812 30,667 31,103 0.5 -1.4 2.3 34,673 31,324 31,984 355,904 340,696 4.5

 New Orders.............................. 26,241 26,292 26,270 -0.2 0.1 4.3 31,372 25,540 28,096 298,031 284,235 4.9

 Computers and related products:

 Shipments................................ 1,848 1,923 1,911 -3.9 0.6 5.8 2,368 1,964 2,385 21,964 20,529 7.0

 New Orders.............................. 1,902 1,969 1,911 -3.4 3.0 4.5 2,422 2,010 2,386 21,912 20,546 6.6

 

 Communications equipment:

 Shipments................................ 4,473 4,386 4,671 2.0 -6.1 10.0 5,972 4,074 4,888 48,580 42,919 13.2

 New Orders.............................. 4,740 4,724 4,735 0.3 -0.2 10.9 6,204 4,351 5,021 49,117 43,070 14.0

 Electrical equipment, appliances, 

 and components: 

 Shipments................................ 10,877 10,801 11,028 0.7 -2.1 4.4 11,068 10,466 10,887 128,490 131,098 -2.0

 New Orders.............................. 11,231 11,218 11,043 0.1 1.6 2.4 11,325 10,749 10,705 130,401 132,075 -1.3

 Transportation equipment: 

 Shipments................................ 84,771 82,564 82,094 2.7 0.6 0.3 84,371 79,615 81,610 894,112 1,030,993 -13.3

 New Orders.............................. 78,020 78,837 77,365 -1.0 1.9 1.5 85,014 75,885 90,580 805,341 1,007,764 -20.1

 Motor vehicles and parts:

 Shipments................................ 63,096 62,114 60,501 1.6 2.7 -2.5 59,407 59,097 52,682 641,002 718,300 -10.8

 New Orders.............................. 63,155 62,298 60,601 1.4 2.8 -2.4 60,312 59,677 53,603 642,065 717,145 -10.5

 

 Nondefense aircraft and parts5:

 Shipments................................ 6,258 4,334 6,275 44.4 -30.9 22.9 8,253 4,315 13,342 71,685 133,830 -46.4

 New Orders.............................. 1,143 2,372 2,356 -51.8 0.7 23.9 6,380 1,499 9,699 -17,283 103,500 -116.7

 Defense aircraft and parts:

 Shipments................................ 3,564 4,225 4,220 -15.6 0.1 12.8 4,112 4,370 4,660 48,810 55,125 -11.5

 New Orders.............................. 2,848 2,997 2,824 -5.0 6.1 71.3 5,006 3,769 8,514 43,053 59,984 -28.2

 All other durable goods: 

 Shipments................................ 44,674 44,419 43,879 0.6 1.2 1.4 43,309 42,554 37,692 499,971 475,060 5.2

 New Orders.............................. 44,677 44,467 43,904 0.5 1.3 1.4 42,812 42,623 37,404 500,232 475,352 5.2

 Capital goods3:

 Shipments................................ 86,945 85,268 85,928 2.0 -0.8 3.8 96,456 82,808 93,168 987,887 1,027,927 -3.9

 New Orders.............................. 82,021 84,122 83,708 -2.5 0.5 3.3 95,349 80,243 95,052 912,544 1,000,182 -8.8

 Nondefense capital goods:

 Shipments................................ 74,219 71,861 73,375 3.3 -2.1 3.9 82,303 68,687 80,324 838,624 882,193 -4.9

 New Orders.............................. 70,268 71,716 71,107 -2.0 0.9 0.7 79,051 67,357 72,547 759,020 846,559 -10.3

 Excluding aircraft:

 Shipments........................... 70,208 69,892 69,568 0.5 0.5 2.6 76,516 66,713 70,719 798,291 794,656 0.5

 New Orders.......................... 71,772 71,358 70,681 0.6 1.0 1.7 77,092 67,625 69,419 807,338 793,375 1.8

 Defense capital goods:

 Shipments................................ 12,726 13,407 12,553 -5.1 6.8 3.5 14,153 14,121 12,844 149,263 145,734 2.4

 New Orders.............................. 11,753 12,406 12,601 -5.3 -1.5 21.7 16,298 12,886 22,505 153,524 153,623 -0.1

r Revised data due to late receipts and concurrent seasonal adjustment. 

1 Estimates of shipments and new orders are for the duration of the period, while estimates of unfilled orders and total inventories are for the end of the period. Not seasonally adjusted estimates of 

shipments and new orders include adjusted data for non-calendar reporters. Seasonally adjusted estimates include concurrent adjustments for holiday and trading-day differences, where appropriate, 

as well as seasonal variation, based on the results of the latest annual review of the model parameters. Estimates are not adjusted for price changes. 

2 Based on advance sample. Estimates of manufacturers' shipments, inventories, and orders are subject to survey error and revision. One major component of survey error is nonsampling error, which includes errors of coverage, response and 

nonreporting. Since the survey panel is not a probability sample, estimates of sampling error cannot be calculated. For further details on survey design, methodology, and data limitations, see http://www.census.gov/manufacturing/m3. 

3

 The Capital Goods Industries include Nondefense : small arms and ordnance; farm machinery and equipment; construction machinery; mining, oil, and gas field machinery; industrial machinery; vending, laundry, and other machinery; photographic 

equipment; metalworking machinery; turbines and generators; other power transmission equipment; pumps and compressors; material handling equipment; all other machinery; electronic computers; computer storage devices; other computer 

peripheral equipment; communications equipment; search and navigation equipment; electromedical, measuring, and control instruments; electrical equipment; other electrical equipment, appliances, and components; heavy duty trucks; aircraft; 

railroad rolling stock; ships and boats; office and institutional furniture; and medical equipment and supplies. Defense Capital Goods include : small arms and ordnance, communications equipment, aircraft; missiles, space vehicles, and parts, ships and 

boats, and search and navigation equipment. 

4

 Estimates and percent changes of shipments and inventories for the semiconductor industry are included in computers and electronic products, and all other applicable aggregate totals. Estimates and percent changes for new orders and unfilled 

orders exclude semiconductor industry data. 

5

 (NA) - New Orders month-to-month percent change is not provided for Nondefense aircraft and parts because the denominator has a negative value. 

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories, and Orders (M3) Survey, December Advance Report, January 27, 2021. Information on data sources and methodology can be found on our website at 

<www.census.gov/manufacturing/m3/how_the_data_are_collected/index.html>. 
Table 2. Durable Goods Manufacturers' Unfilled Orders and Total Inventories 1

[Estimates are shown in millions of dollars and are based on data from the Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories, and Orders Survey.]

Seasonally Adjusted Not Seasonally Adjusted 

Monthly Percent Change Monthly Percent

Item Change

Dec Nov Oct Nov - Oct - Sep - Dec Nov Dec 2020/

2020 2 2020 r 2020 Dec 2Nov r Oct 2020 2 2020

 r

2019 2019

DURABLE GOODS

 Total:

 Unfilled Orders4......................... 1,070,372 1,073,593 1,073,816 -0.3 0.0 -0.2 1,067,500 1,063,427 1,142,142 -6.5

 Total Inventories....................... 425,948 426,631 422,634 -0.2 0.9 0.3 415,124 426,231 412,104 0.7

 Excluding transportation:

 Unfilled Orders4......................... 364,035 360,505 357,001 1.0 1.0 0.7 359,254 355,824 345,125 4.1

 Total Inventories....................... 277,983 275,881 274,377 0.8 0.5 0.2 271,497 275,054 275,466 -1.4

 Excluding defense:

 Unfilled Orders4........................... 855,421 857,144 855,903 -0.2 0.1 -0.1 851,716 849,959 925,294 -8.0

 Total Inventories....................... 400,645 401,386 397,031 -0.2 1.1 0.3 390,036 401,000 387,313 0.7

 Manufacturing with unfilled orders:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 1,070,372 1,073,593 1,073,816 -0.3 0.0 -0.2 1,067,500 1,063,427 1,142,142 -6.5

 Total Inventories....................... 347,834 347,899 344,942 0.0 0.9 0.1 338,755 347,390 335,247 1.0

 Primary metals:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 33,393 33,157 32,608 0.7 1.7 2.4 33,471 32,508 31,459 6.4

 Total Inventories....................... 34,317 33,805 33,657 1.5 0.4 0.3 34,076 33,528 35,502 -4.0

 Fabricated metal products:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 77,371 76,467 75,529 1.2 1.2 1.5 75,788 75,179 72,450 4.6

 Total Inventories....................... 52,217 51,698 51,240 1.0 0.9 0.4 51,159 51,019 52,021 -1.7

 Machinery: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 100,937 99,582 98,772 1.4 0.8 0.4 99,067 98,309 94,728 4.6

 Total Inventories....................... 69,841 69,358 68,876 0.7 0.7 -0.1 67,654 69,872 69,352 -2.4

 Computers and electronic products4:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 120,463 119,785 119,043 0.6 0.6 0.3 120,010 118,670 117,742 1.9

 Total Inventories....................... 43,647 43,534 43,552 0.3 0.0 0.1 42,195 43,739 42,810 -1.4

 Computers and related products:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 1,956 1,902 1,856 2.8 2.5 0.0 1,956 1,902 2,008 -2.6

 Total Inventories....................... 3,986 3,912 3,865 1.9 1.2 0.4 3,817 3,998 3,763 1.4

 

 Communications equipment:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 26,298 26,031 25,693 1.0 1.3 0.2 26,126 25,894 25,589 2.1

 Total Inventories....................... 5,262 5,257 5,291 0.1 -0.6 -0.6 4,941 5,368 4,886 1.1

 Electrical equipment, appliances, 

 and components: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 23,138 22,784 22,367 1.6 1.9 0.1 22,694 22,437 20,783 9.2

 Total Inventories....................... 20,022 19,804 19,627 1.1 0.9 -0.6 19,201 19,417 18,986 1.1

 Transportation equipment: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 706,337 713,088 716,815 -0.9 -0.5 -0.7 708,246 707,603 797,017 -11.1

 Total Inventories....................... 147,965 150,750 148,257 -1.8 1.7 0.5 143,627 151,177 136,638 5.1

 Motor vehicles and parts:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 21,560 21,501 21,317 0.3 0.9 0.5 21,811 20,906 20,748 5.1

 Total Inventories....................... 39,596 40,240 39,158 -1.6 2.8 1.2 38,150 40,253 38,334 -0.5

 

 Nondefense Aircraft and parts:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 470,278 475,393 477,355 -1.1 -0.4 -0.8 471,006 472,879 559,974 -15.9

 Total Inventories....................... 78,582 80,832 79,311 -2.8 1.9 0.3 76,115 81,221 70,270 8.3

 Defense Aircraft and parts: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 78,529 79,245 80,473 -0.9 -1.5 -1.7 79,280 78,386 85,037 -6.8

 Total Inventories....................... 12,383 12,358 12,446 0.2 -0.7 0.1 12,281 12,391 12,003 2.3

 All other durable goods: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 8,733 8,730 8,682 0.0 0.6 0.3 8,224 8,721 7,963 3.3

 Total Inventories....................... 57,939 57,682 57,425 0.4 0.4 0.4 57,212 57,479 56,795 0.7

 Capital goods3:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 765,251 770,175 771,321 -0.6 -0.1 -0.3 762,930 764,037 838,273 -9.0

 Total Inventories....................... 215,492 217,148 215,076 -0.8 1.0 0.0 209,144 218,190 203,269 2.9

 Nondefense capital goods:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 587,684 591,635 591,780 -0.7 0.0 -0.4 585,060 588,312 664,664 -12.0

 Total Inventories....................... 194,410 196,104 193,670 -0.9 1.3 0.1 188,175 197,193 182,586 3.1

 Excluding aircraft: 

 Unfilled Orders.................... 224,152 222,588 221,122 0.7 0.7 0.5 221,181 220,605 212,134 4.3

 Total Inventories................... 128,380 127,789 126,947 0.5 0.7 -0.1 124,599 128,471 124,564 0.0

 Defense capital goods:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 177,567 178,540 179,541 -0.5 -0.6 0.0 177,870 175,725 173,609 2.5

 Total Inventories....................... 21,082 21,044 21,406 0.2 -1.7 -0.5 20,969 20,997 20,683 1.4

r Revised data due to late receipts and concurrent seasonal adjustment. 

1 Estimates of shipments and new orders are for the duration of the period, while estimates of unfilled orders and total inventories are for the end of the period. Not seasonally adjusted estimates of shipments and 

new orders include adjusted data for non-calendar reporters. Seasonally adjusted estimates include concurrent adjustments for holiday and trading-day differences, where appropriate, as well as seasonal variation, 

based on the results of the latest annual review of the model parameters. Estimates are not adjusted for price changes. 

2

 Based on advance sample. Estimates of manufacturers' shipments, inventories, and orders are subject to survey error and revision. One major component of survey error is nonsampling error, which includes errors 

of coverage, response and nonreporting. Since the survey panel is not a probability sample, estimates of sampling error cannot be calculated. For further details on survey design, methodology, and data limitations, 

see http://www.census.gov/manufacturing/m3. 

3

 The Capital Goods Industries include Nondefense : small arms and ordnance; farm machinery and equipment; construction machinery; mining, oil, and gas field machinery; industrial machinery; vending, laundry, 

and other machinery; photographic equipment; metalworking machinery; turbines and generators; other power transmission equipment; pumps and compressors; material handling equipment; all other machinery; 

electronic computers; computer storage devices; other computer peripheral equipment; communications equipment; search and navigation equipment; electromedical, measuring, and control instruments; 

electrical equipment; other electrical equipment, appliances, and components; heavy duty trucks; aircraft; railroad rolling stock; ships and boats; office and institutional furniture; and medical equipment and 

supplies. Defense Capital Goods include : small arms and ordnance, communications equipment, aircraft; missiles, space vehicles, and parts, ships and boats, and search and navigation equipment. 

4

 Estimates and percent changes of shipments and inventories for the semiconductor industry are included in computers and electronic products, and all other applicable aggregate totals. Estimates and percent 

changes for new orders and unfilled orders exclude semiconductor industry data. 

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories, and Orders (M3) Survey, December Advance Report, January 27, 2021. Information on data sources and methodology can be found on our website 

at <www.census.gov/manufacturing/m3/how_the_data_are_collected/index.html>.