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FOR RELEASE AT 8:30 AM EDT, THURSDAY, MAY 27, 2021

MONTHLY ADVANCE REPORT ON DURABLE GOODS MANUFACTURERS’ SHIPMENTS, 

INVENTORIES AND ORDERS APRIL 2021

Release Number: CB 21-75 M3-1 (21)-04

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>.

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

manufacturers’ shipments, inventories and orders:

New Orders

New orders for manufactured durable goods in April decreased $3.2 billion or 1.3 percent to $246.2 billion, 

the U.S. Census Bureau announced today. This decrease, down following eleven consecutive monthly 

increases, followed a 1.3 percent March increase. Excluding transportation, new orders increased 1.0

percent. Excluding defense, new orders were virtually unchanged. Transportation equipment, down two 

consecutive months, drove the decrease, $4.9 billion or 6.7 percent to $68.9 billion.

DURABLE GOODS – NEW ORDERS

APRIL 2021 $246.2 billion -1.3%°

MARCH 2021

(revised) $249.4 billion +1.3%°

Next release: June 24, 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, May 27, 

2021.

Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21 Apr-21

% Change -11.6% 10.6% 11.3% 9.8% 2.0% 1.6% 1.0% 2.2% 1.5% 2.4% 1.3% 1.3% -1.3%

-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%

DURABLE GOODS NEW ORDERS 2020-2021

Seasonally Adjusted, Month-To-Month Percentage Change

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

May 27, 2021.
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Shipments

Shipments of manufactured durable goods in April, up eleven of the last twelve months, increased $1.4

billion or 0.6 percent to $248.7 billion. This followed a 2.7 percent March increase. Primary metals, also 

up eleven of the last twelve months, led the increase, $0.6 billion or 2.7 percent to $21.6 billion.

Unfilled Orders

Unfilled orders for manufactured durable goods in April, up three consecutive months, increased $1.9

billion or 0.2 percent to $1,197.0 billion. This followed a 0.5 percent March increase. Fabricated metal 

products, up eleven consecutive months, drove the increase, $3.1 billion or 3.4 percent to $95.9 billion.

Inventories

Inventories of manufactured durable goods in April, up three consecutive months, increased $2.2 billion or 

0.5 percent to $441.6 billion. This followed a 1.0 percent March increase. Transportation equipment, also 

up three consecutive months, led the increase, $0.9 billion or 0.6 percent to $149.4 billion. 

Capital Goods

Nondefense new orders for capital goods in April increased $2.7 billion or 3.5 percent to $80.1 billion. 

Shipments increased $3.1 billion or 4.1 percent to $78.9 billion. Unfilled orders increased $1.2 billion or 

0.2 percent to $721.9 billion. Inventories decreased $0.3 billion or 0.2 percent to $196.4 billion. Defense 

new orders for capital goods in April decreased $3.2 billion or 25.8 percent to $9.1 billion. Shipments

increased $0.6 billion or 4.8 percent to $12.2 billion. Unfilled orders decreased $3.1 billion or 1.6 percent 

to $191.9 billion. Inventories increased $0.1 billion or 0.7 percent to $20.9 billion.

Revised and Recently Benchmarked March Data

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

billion (revised from $486.6 billion); shipments, $485.8 billion (revised from $485.4 billion); unfilled orders, 

$1,195.1 billion (revised from $1,194.2 billion) and total inventories, $721.0 billion (revised from $721.1

billion).

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

10:00 a.m. EDT. The Advance Report on durable goods for May is scheduled for release on June 24, 2021

at 8:30 a.m. EDT. View the full schedule in the Economic Briefing Room:

<https://www.census.gov/economic-indicators/>. The full text and tables of this release can be found at

<www.census.gov/m3>.
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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-of-month total inventory (at 

current cost or market value), and inventories by stage of fabrication (materials and supplies, work-inprocess, 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 monthto-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-to-month 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 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 
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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 were

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 spanned 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 contains revised 

monthly tables for January 2021 through March 2021. 

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/>
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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

Apr Mar Feb Mar ‐ Feb ‐ Jan ‐ Apr Mar Apr Change

2021 2 2021 r 2021 Apr 2 Mar r Feb 2021 2 2021 r 2020 2021 2020 2021/2020

DURABLE GOODS

   Total:               

               Shipments................................ 248,725 247,352 240,918 0.6 2.7 ‐3.1 247,302 269,342 179,935 964,981 861,002 12.1

               New Orders4

.............................. 246,156 249,365 246,261 ‐1.3 1.3 1.3 246,009 279,654 153,677 985,512 805,223 22.4

         Excluding transportation:

               Shipments................................ 175,622 173,942 170,001 1.0 2.3 ‐1.3 176,348 186,005 142,583 675,482 605,042 11.6

               New Orders4

.............................. 177,251 175,545 170,078 1.0 3.2 ‐0.5 179,983 190,264 138,507 690,310 597,631 15.5

         Excluding defense:

               Shipments................................ 234,572 233,808 227,419 0.3 2.8 ‐3.2 233,760 254,427 167,622 912,302 810,734 12.5

               New Orders4

.............................. 235,501 235,611 230,452 0.0 2.2 1.3 234,986 259,751 143,341 928,027 747,114 24.2

    Manufacturing with unfilled orders:

               Shipments................................ 174,675 170,682 166,440 2.3 2.5 ‐1.9 173,221 186,642 135,481 668,452 620,790 7.7

               New Orders.............................. 176,556 177,122 176,058 ‐0.3 0.6 4.6 175,906 200,775 112,764 705,484 580,420 21.5

    Primary metals:

               Shipments................................ 21,646 21,069 20,142 2.7 4.6 ‐1.1 22,654 23,039 16,547 85,573 75,254 13.7

               New Orders.............................. 22,593 21,934 20,840 3.0 5.2 ‐0.1 23,368 24,033 15,945 89,562 75,308 18.9

    Fabricated metal products:

               Shipments................................ 33,270 33,025 31,944 0.7 3.4 ‐0.8 33,890 34,729 26,609 128,356 116,671 10.0

               New Orders.............................. 36,389 36,053 33,691 0.9 7.0 ‐0.1 37,536 38,552 25,556 141,145 117,014 20.6

    Machinery:

               Shipments................................ 34,544 34,143 33,364 1.2 2.3 ‐1.9 35,314 38,048 28,376 135,169 122,422 10.4

               New Orders.............................. 36,054 35,572 34,488 1.4 3.1 0.2 37,282 39,350 28,827 143,251 125,580 14.1

    Computers and electronic products 4

:

               Shipments................................ 29,093 28,864 28,616 0.8 0.9 ‐1.0 26,582 30,998 24,262 108,879 100,631 8.2

               New Orders.............................. 24,747 24,637 24,536 0.4 0.4 ‐0.7 22,951 28,258 20,966 94,547 87,367 8.2

         Computers and related products:

               Shipments................................ 2,046 1,931 1,977 6.0 ‐2.3 0.9 1,794 2,154 1,443 7,214 6,318 14.2

               New Orders.............................. 2,029 1,948 1,979 4.2 ‐1.6 1.6 1,777 2,171 1,416 7,205 6,262 15.1

         Communications equipment:

               Shipments................................ 3,383 3,464 3,438 ‐2.3 0.8 ‐1.2 3,033 4,113 2,741 12,611 11,105 13.6

               New Orders.............................. 3,405 3,528 3,428 ‐3.5 2.9 ‐3.2 3,199 4,269 2,803 13,132 11,422 15.0

    Electrical equipment, appliances,    

       and components:                   

               Shipments................................ 12,224 12,172 11,942 0.4 1.9 ‐0.1 12,242 12,937 9,898 46,391 42,256 9.8

               New Orders.............................. 12,411 12,519 12,534 ‐0.9 ‐0.1 1.6 12,697 13,319 10,143 49,060 43,575 12.6

    Transportation equipment:    

               Shipments................................ 73,103 73,410 70,917 ‐0.4 3.5 ‐7.3 70,954 83,337 37,352 289,499 255,960 13.1

               New Orders.............................. 68,905 73,820 76,183 ‐6.7 ‐3.1 5.6 66,026 89,390 15,170 295,202 207,592 42.2

         Motor vehicles and parts:

               Shipments................................ 49,572 53,005 50,977 ‐6.5 4.0 ‐8.3 49,484 59,801 21,011 209,485 170,617 22.8

               New Orders.............................. 50,006 53,326 51,379 ‐6.2 3.8 ‐8.2 49,428 59,944 20,205 211,391 170,671 23.9

         Nondefense aircraft and parts 5

:

               Shipments................................ 9,530 6,951 6,573 37.1 5.8 ‐11.8 7,700 8,627 4,327 27,271 34,850 ‐21.7

               New Orders.............................. 8,138 6,931 9,070 17.4 ‐23.6 742.2 5,039 10,386 ‐14,695 26,915 ‐21,456 (NA)

         Defense aircraft and parts:

               Shipments................................ 4,561 4,542 4,602 0.4 ‐1.3 ‐4.6 4,218 5,081 4,196 17,220 17,809 ‐3.3

               New Orders.............................. 3,605 3,942 5,388 ‐8.5 ‐26.8 1.7 3,161 5,893 4,356 18,388 20,017 ‐8.1

    All other durable goods:           

               Shipments................................ 44,845 44,669 43,993 0.4 1.5 ‐1.7 45,666 46,254 36,891 171,114 147,808 15.8

               New Orders.............................. 45,057 44,830 43,989 0.5 1.9 ‐2.1 46,149 46,752 37,070 172,745 148,787 16.1

    Capital goods3

:

               Shipments................................ 91,118 87,445 86,105 4.2 1.6 ‐2.3 87,617 97,691 69,799 341,079 311,090 9.6

               New Orders.............................. 89,214 89,695 92,213 ‐0.5 ‐2.7 8.8 86,951 106,649 50,267 359,466 268,518 33.9

           Nondefense capital goods:

               Shipments................................ 78,905 75,793 74,499 4.1 1.7 ‐2.3 75,854 84,980 59,318 295,702 268,649 10.1

               New Orders.............................. 80,107 77,423 78,315 3.5 ‐1.1 10.7 77,229 88,810 41,320 308,208 217,320 41.8

                Excluding aircraft:

                    Shipments........................... 72,489 71,869 70,785 0.9 1.5 ‐0.9 71,103 79,729 57,572 279,974 248,363 12.7

                    New Orders.......................... 75,001 73,304 72,150 2.3 1.6 ‐0.3 74,527 81,703 58,627 292,542 255,153 14.7

           Defense capital goods:

               Shipments................................ 12,213 11,652 11,606 4.8 0.4 ‐2.1 11,763 12,711 10,481 45,377 42,441 6.9

               New Orders.............................. 9,107 12,272 13,898 ‐25.8 ‐11.7 ‐1.0 9,722 17,839 8,947 51,258 51,198 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 year‐to‐date 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, April Advance Report, May 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

Apr Mar Feb Mar ‐ Feb ‐ Jan ‐ Apr Mar Apr 2021/

2021 2 2021 r 2021 Apr 2 Mar r Feb 2021 2 2021 r 2020 2020

DURABLE GOODS

   Total:                   

               Unfilled Orders 4......................... 1,197,002 1,195,121 1,188,681 0.2 0.5 0.8 1,211,643 1,208,958 1,242,496 ‐2.5

               Total Inventories....................... 441,607 439,452 434,958 0.5 1.0 0.7 444,546 440,192 434,462 2.3

         Excluding transportation:

               Unfilled Orders 4......................... 395,807 389,728 383,698 1.6 1.6 1.1 402,054 394,441 365,188 10.1

               Total Inventories....................... 292,254 290,974 288,770 0.4 0.8 0.7 295,193 292,109 291,958 1.1

         Excluding defense:

               Unfilled Orders 4

........................... 979,441 974,062 967,832 0.6 0.6 0.8 990,286 985,082 1,018,149 ‐2.7

               Total Inventories....................... 417,029 415,019 410,513 0.5 1.1 0.7 419,926 415,747 410,372 2.3

    Manufacturing with unfilled orders:

               Unfilled Orders......................... 1,197,002 1,195,121 1,188,681 0.2 0.5 0.8 1,211,643 1,208,958 1,242,496 ‐2.5

               Total Inventories....................... 356,568 355,511 352,294 0.3 0.9 0.5 359,066 355,752 353,398 1.6

    Primary metals:

               Unfilled Orders......................... 37,757 36,810 35,945 2.6 2.4 2.0 38,696 37,982 31,890 21.3

               Total Inventories....................... 37,405 36,904 36,272 1.4 1.7 1.5 37,845 37,073 36,503 3.7

    Fabricated metal products:

               Unfilled Orders......................... 95,926 92,807 89,779 3.4 3.4 2.0 97,150 93,504 81,946 18.6

               Total Inventories....................... 55,822 55,215 54,428 1.1 1.4 1.1 56,506 55,535 55,152 2.5

    Machinery:     

               Unfilled Orders......................... 103,662 102,152 100,723 1.5 1.4 1.1 105,518 103,550 96,901 8.9

               Total Inventories....................... 71,057 70,913 70,742 0.2 0.2 0.6 71,688 71,473 71,940 ‐0.4

    Computers and electronic products4

:

               Unfilled Orders......................... 118,684 118,580 118,380 0.1 0.2 0.2 119,908 119,561 117,655 1.9

               Total Inventories....................... 46,423 46,543 46,506 ‐0.3 0.1 ‐0.1 46,780 46,071 47,711 ‐2.0

         Computers and related products:

               Unfilled Orders......................... 1,536 1,553 1,536 ‐1.1 1.1 0.1 1,536 1,553 1,531 0.3

               Total Inventories....................... 3,736 3,688 3,564 1.3 3.5 0.7 3,611 3,491 3,277 10.2

         Communications equipment:

               Unfilled Orders......................... 18,717 18,695 18,631 0.1 0.3 ‐0.1 19,003 18,837 18,231 4.2

               Total Inventories....................... 5,052 5,047 5,070 0.1 ‐0.5 ‐0.4 5,068 4,970 5,110 ‐0.8

    Electrical equipment, appliances,    

        and components:                   

               Unfilled Orders......................... 28,673 28,486 28,139 0.7 1.2 2.1 29,273 28,818 25,968 12.7

               Total Inventories....................... 20,150 20,204 20,038 ‐0.3 0.8 0.1 20,522 20,397 20,227 1.5

    Transportation equipment:    

               Unfilled Orders......................... 801,195 805,393 804,983 ‐0.5 0.1 0.7 809,589 814,517 877,308 ‐7.7

               Total Inventories....................... 149,353 148,478 146,188 0.6 1.6 0.8 149,353 148,083 142,504 4.8

         Motor vehicles and parts:

               Unfilled Orders......................... 26,183 25,749 25,428 1.7 1.3 1.6 26,753 26,809 23,602 13.4

               Total Inventories....................... 45,576 44,084 42,511 3.4 3.7 2.4 45,772 44,331 40,863 12.0

         Nondefense Aircraft and parts:

               Unfilled Orders......................... 573,926 575,318 575,338 ‐0.2 0.0 0.4 578,404 581,065 645,186 ‐10.4

               Total Inventories....................... 76,304 77,095 76,453 ‐1.0 0.8 ‐0.2 76,132 76,511 75,385 1.0

         Defense Aircraft and parts:       

               Unfilled Orders......................... 84,145 85,101 85,701 ‐1.1 ‐0.7 0.9 85,149 86,206 90,620 ‐6.0

               Total Inventories....................... 12,325 12,278 12,407 0.4 ‐1.0 0.1 12,370 12,202 12,158 1.7

    All other durable goods:           

               Unfilled Orders......................... 11,105 10,893 10,732 1.9 1.5 0.0 11,509 11,026 10,828 6.3

               Total Inventories....................... 61,397 61,195 60,784 0.3 0.7 0.6 61,852 61,560 60,425 2.4

    Capital goods3

:

               Unfilled Orders......................... 913,810 915,714 913,464 ‐0.2 0.2 0.7 924,840 925,506 974,678 ‐5.1

               Total Inventories....................... 217,282 217,440 216,737 ‐0.1 0.3 0.3 217,825 216,631 214,853 1.4

           Nondefense capital goods:

               Unfilled Orders......................... 721,939 720,737 719,107 0.2 0.2 0.5 729,231 727,856 780,070 ‐6.5

               Total Inventories....................... 196,397 196,704 196,013 ‐0.2 0.4 0.3 196,943 195,807 194,490 1.3

                Excluding aircraft:               

                    Unfilled Orders.................... 223,358 220,846 219,411 1.1 0.7 0.6 226,478 223,054 212,872 6.4

                    Total Inventories................... 130,979 130,663 130,323 0.2 0.3 0.4 131,687 130,365 130,053 1.3

           Defense capital goods:

               Unfilled Orders......................... 191,871 194,977 194,357 ‐1.6 0.3 1.2 195,609 197,650 194,608 0.5

               Total Inventories....................... 20,885 20,736 20,724 0.7 0.1 1.0 20,882 20,824 20,363 2.5

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, April Advance Report, May 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>.