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FOR RELEASE AT 8:30 AM EDT, MONDAY, APRIL 26, 2021

MONTHLY ADVANCE REPORT ON DURABLE GOODS MANUFACTURERS’ SHIPMENTS, 

INVENTORIES AND ORDERS MARCH 2021

Release Number: CB 21-59 M3-1 (21)-03

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>.

APRIL 26, 2021 — The U.S. Census Bureau announces the March advance report on durable goods 

manufacturers’ shipments, inventories and orders:

New Orders

New orders for manufactured durable goods in March increased $1.4 billion or 0.5 percent to $256.3

billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced today. This increase, up ten of the last eleven months, followed 

a 0.9 percent February decrease. Excluding transportation, new orders increased 1.6 percent. Excluding 

defense, new orders increased 0.5 percent. Fabricated metal products, up six of the last seven months, led

the increase, $1.2 billion or 3.6 percent to $35.4 billion.

DURABLE GOODS – NEW ORDERS

MARCH 2021 $256.3 billion +0.5%°

FEBRUARY 2021

(revised) $254.9 billion -0.9%°

Next release: May 27, 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, April 26, 

2021.

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

% Change -16.7% -18.3% 15.0% 7.7% 11.8% 0.4% 2.1% 1.8% 1.3% 1.2% 3.6% -0.9% 0.5%

-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 2020-2021

Seasonally Adjusted, Month-To-Month Percentage Change

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

April 26, 2021.
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Shipments

Shipments of manufactured durable goods in March, up six of the last seven months, increased $6.4 billion 

or 2.5 percent to $257.0 billion. This followed a 3.6 percent February decrease. Transportation 

equipment, also up six of the last seven months, led the increase, $3.7 billion or 4.8 percent to $82.1

billion.

Unfilled Orders

Unfilled orders for manufactured durable goods in March, up three consecutive months, increased $4.4

billion or 0.4 percent to $1,087.7 billion. This followed a 0.9 percent February increase. Fabricated metal 

products, up eleven consecutive months, led the increase, $2.3 billion or 2.8 percent to $83.0 billion.

Inventories

Inventories of manufactured durable goods in March, up two consecutive months, increased $4.2 billion or 

1.0 percent to $431.8 billion. This followed a 0.7 percent February increase. Transportation equipment,

also up two consecutive months, led the increase, $2.1 billion or 1.4 percent to $149.0 billion. 

Capital Goods

Nondefense new orders for capital goods in March decreased $3.7 billion or 4.7 percent to $75.9 billion. 

Shipments increased $1.4 billion or 1.9 percent to $75.8 billion. Unfilled orders increased $0.1 billion or 

virtually unchanged to $592.3 billion. Inventories increased $0.7 billion or 0.4 percent to $192.7 billion. 

Defense new orders for capital goods in March increased $0.5 billion or 3.8 percent to $14.1 billion. 

Shipments decreased less than $0.1 billion or 0.2 percent to $13.0 billion. Unfilled orders increased $1.1

billion or 0.6 percent to $181.4 billion. Inventories decreased less than $0.1 billion or virtually unchanged

to $21.4 billion.

Revised February Data

Revised seasonally adjusted February figures for all manufacturing industries were: new orders, $507.1

billion (revised from $505.7 billion); shipments, $502.9 billion (revised from $502.4 billion); unfilled orders, 

$1,083.2 billion (revised from $1,082.3 billion) and total inventories, $702.5 billion (revised from $702.4

billion).

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

10:00 a.m. EDT. The Advance Report on durable goods for April is scheduled for release on May 27, 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 
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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. 

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

Mar Feb Jan Feb - Jan - Dec - Mar Feb Mar Change

2021 2 2021 r 2021 Mar 2 Feb r Jan 2021 2 2021 r 2020 2021 2020 2021/2020

DURABLE GOODS

 Total: 

 Shipments................................ 257,032 250,682 260,178 2.5 -3.6 1.8 279,941 237,230 250,002 748,741 710,530 5.4

 New Orders4

.............................. 256,316 254,919 257,242 0.5 -0.9 3.6 287,925 244,656 229,295 764,350 689,380 10.9

 Excluding transportation:

 Shipments................................ 174,943 172,334 174,549 1.5 -1.3 2.5 187,803 160,623 168,549 506,048 471,949 7.2

 New Orders4

.............................. 174,437 171,664 172,257 1.6 -0.3 1.7 190,365 163,154 165,549 512,691 466,085 10.0

 Excluding defense:

 Shipments................................ 242,389 235,958 245,247 2.7 -3.8 1.6 263,627 223,097 234,989 705,754 669,574 5.4

 New Orders4

.............................. 240,895 239,663 240,741 0.5 -0.4 2.4 266,945 229,756 207,465 715,586 639,207 11.9

 Manufacturing with unfilled orders:

 Shipments................................ 174,830 171,983 175,769 1.7 -2.2 2.6 191,805 162,347 181,330 511,062 501,915 1.8

 New Orders.............................. 179,268 181,430 177,925 -1.2 2.0 5.2 204,382 174,629 164,757 541,769 494,875 9.5

 Primary metals:

 Shipments................................ 20,561 20,158 20,268 2.0 -0.5 1.9 22,769 19,797 20,235 62,535 59,133 5.8

 New Orders.............................. 21,228 20,982 20,746 1.2 1.1 2.7 23,651 21,155 19,836 65,692 59,609 10.2

 Fabricated metal products:

 Shipments................................ 33,109 32,417 32,590 2.1 -0.5 2.6 34,909 30,393 31,797 95,240 92,228 3.3

 New Orders.............................. 35,376 34,139 33,906 3.6 0.7 3.0 38,153 32,651 32,196 102,971 93,929 9.6

 Machinery:

 Shipments................................ 32,890 32,472 33,214 1.3 -2.2 3.6 36,971 31,189 33,874 97,543 92,906 5.0

 New Orders.............................. 33,982 33,657 33,723 1.0 -0.2 0.4 38,149 33,447 33,869 103,582 95,782 8.1

 Computers and electronic products 4

:

 Shipments................................ 31,083 31,052 31,263 0.1 -0.7 1.2 33,345 27,656 30,516 89,025 82,133 8.4

 New Orders.............................. 26,195 26,075 26,151 0.5 -0.3 -0.5 29,845 23,189 27,045 75,772 69,638 8.8

 Computers and related products:

 Shipments................................ 2,018 2,067 2,106 -2.4 -1.9 11.7 2,251 1,601 2,041 5,661 4,947 14.4

 New Orders.............................. 2,039 2,068 2,093 -1.4 -1.2 7.9 2,272 1,602 2,012 5,670 4,910 15.5

 Communications equipment:

 Shipments................................ 4,261 4,212 4,234 1.2 -0.5 -4.9 5,060 3,453 4,403 11,827 10,344 14.3

 New Orders.............................. 4,355 4,177 4,228 4.3 -1.2 -10.2 5,262 3,528 4,402 12,213 10,628 14.9

 Electrical equipment, appliances, 

 and components: 

 Shipments................................ 11,686 11,585 11,680 0.9 -0.8 6.5 12,585 10,652 11,864 33,335 31,912 4.5

 New Orders.............................. 11,954 12,141 12,033 -1.5 0.9 4.8 12,914 11,522 11,960 35,289 32,785 7.6

 Transportation equipment: 

 Shipments................................ 82,089 78,348 85,629 4.8 -8.5 0.3 92,138 76,607 81,453 242,693 238,581 1.7

 New Orders.............................. 81,879 83,255 84,985 -1.7 -2.0 7.6 97,560 81,502 63,746 251,659 223,295 12.7

 Motor vehicles and parts:

 Shipments................................ 60,237 56,939 62,747 5.8 -9.3 -1.3 66,981 56,740 52,180 179,332 166,469 7.7

 New Orders.............................. 60,490 57,348 63,085 5.5 -9.1 -0.9 67,157 57,624 51,960 181,105 167,241 8.3

 Nondefense aircraft and parts 5

:

 Shipments................................ 6,266 5,693 7,153 10.1 -20.4 15.7 7,613 4,685 13,042 17,270 27,015 -36.1

 New Orders.............................. 5,052 9,508 4,712 -46.9 101.8 358.4 8,841 7,819 -10,797 19,178 1,258 1424.5

 Defense aircraft and parts:

 Shipments................................ 3,949 4,001 4,270 -1.3 -6.3 18.3 4,481 3,601 4,347 11,471 12,017 -4.5

 New Orders.............................. 3,635 4,554 4,844 -20.2 -6.0 64.7 4,973 3,607 7,633 12,672 13,174 -3.8

 All other durable goods: 

 Shipments................................ 45,614 44,650 45,534 2.2 -1.9 1.7 47,224 40,936 40,263 128,370 113,637 13.0

 New Orders.............................. 45,702 44,670 45,698 2.3 -2.2 1.9 47,653 41,190 40,643 129,385 114,342 13.2

 Capital goods3

:

 Shipments................................ 88,861 87,479 89,958 1.6 -2.8 2.9 99,218 81,400 93,997 258,456 245,458 5.3

 New Orders.............................. 89,979 93,206 90,544 -3.5 2.9 8.7 107,280 88,397 77,529 275,356 232,634 18.4

 Nondefense capital goods:

 Shipments................................ 75,825 74,411 76,728 1.9 -3.0 2.9 84,819 68,750 80,937 220,270 209,717 5.0

 New Orders.............................. 75,878 79,627 75,502 -4.7 5.5 6.3 88,018 75,024 57,703 230,552 187,008 23.3

 Excluding aircraft:

 Shipments........................... 72,068 71,168 71,983 1.3 -1.1 2.0 80,131 66,375 71,532 210,460 193,119 9.0

 New Orders.......................... 73,211 72,531 73,140 0.9 -0.8 0.7 81,980 69,563 72,303 219,297 198,681 10.4

 Defense capital goods:

 Shipments................................ 13,036 13,068 13,230 -0.2 -1.2 3.0 14,399 12,650 13,060 38,186 35,741 6.8

 New Orders.............................. 14,101 13,579 15,042 3.8 -9.7 22.2 19,262 13,373 19,826 44,804 45,626 -1.8

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, March Advance Report, April 26, 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

Mar Feb Jan Feb - Jan - Dec - Mar Feb Mar 2021/

2021 2 2021 r 2021 Mar 2 Feb r Jan 2021 2 2021 r 2020 2020

DURABLE GOODS

 Total: 

 Unfilled Orders 4......................... 1,087,665 1,083,227 1,073,780 0.4 0.9 0.2 1,099,135 1,086,558 1,135,102 -3.2

 Total Inventories....................... 431,838 427,604 424,520 1.0 0.7 -0.3 432,355 430,331 423,705 2.0

 Excluding transportation:

 Unfilled Orders 4......................... 376,858 372,210 367,670 1.2 1.2 0.8 381,853 374,698 353,371 8.1

 Total Inventories....................... 282,821 280,712 278,761 0.8 0.7 0.4 283,721 282,498 281,836 0.7

 Excluding defense:

 Unfilled Orders 4

........................... 869,476 865,816 856,901 0.4 1.0 0.1 877,578 869,667 909,037 -3.5

 Total Inventories....................... 406,226 401,966 399,089 1.1 0.7 -0.3 406,657 404,704 398,627 2.0

 Manufacturing with unfilled orders:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 1,087,665 1,083,227 1,073,780 0.4 0.9 0.2 1,099,135 1,086,558 1,135,102 -3.2

 Total Inventories....................... 350,541 347,514 345,645 0.9 0.5 -0.6 350,660 348,633 345,463 1.5

 Primary metals:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 35,451 34,784 33,960 1.9 2.4 1.4 36,763 35,881 31,935 15.1

 Total Inventories....................... 35,738 35,144 34,635 1.7 1.5 0.9 35,819 35,384 35,768 0.1

 Fabricated metal products:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 82,962 80,695 78,973 2.8 2.2 1.7 83,658 80,414 74,151 12.8

 Total Inventories....................... 53,889 53,203 52,555 1.3 1.2 0.9 54,177 53,392 53,316 1.6

 Machinery: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 104,009 102,917 101,732 1.1 1.2 0.5 105,485 104,307 97,604 8.1

 Total Inventories....................... 70,466 70,424 69,979 0.1 0.6 0.1 71,007 70,781 71,589 -0.8

 Computers and electronic products4

:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 120,848 120,582 120,349 0.2 0.2 0.0 121,841 120,748 119,357 2.1

 Total Inventories....................... 43,632 43,481 43,507 0.3 -0.1 -0.3 43,004 43,548 43,498 -1.1

 Computers and related products:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 1,965 1,944 1,943 1.1 0.1 -0.7 1,965 1,944 1,971 -0.3

 Total Inventories....................... 4,063 3,971 3,941 2.3 0.8 -0.6 3,862 4,004 3,595 7.4

 Communications equipment:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 26,330 26,236 26,271 0.4 -0.1 0.0 26,494 26,292 25,873 2.4

 Total Inventories....................... 5,194 5,195 5,218 0.0 -0.4 -0.3 5,100 5,233 5,200 -1.9

 Electrical equipment, appliances, 

 and components: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 24,496 24,228 23,672 1.1 2.3 1.5 24,786 24,457 21,656 14.5

 Total Inventories....................... 20,135 19,903 19,901 1.2 0.0 0.1 20,320 20,092 19,807 2.6

 Transportation equipment: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 710,807 711,017 706,110 0.0 0.7 -0.1 717,282 711,860 781,731 -8.2

 Total Inventories....................... 149,017 146,892 145,759 1.4 0.8 -1.5 148,634 147,833 141,869 4.8

 Motor vehicles and parts:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 22,606 22,353 21,944 1.1 1.9 1.6 23,602 23,426 21,520 9.7

 Total Inventories....................... 43,129 41,752 40,554 3.3 3.0 2.2 43,130 42,307 39,644 8.8

 Nondefense Aircraft and parts:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 470,397 471,611 467,796 -0.3 0.8 -0.5 472,909 471,681 534,217 -11.5

 Total Inventories....................... 75,713 75,045 75,332 0.9 -0.4 -4.1 75,337 75,432 73,479 2.5

 Defense Aircraft and parts: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 79,365 79,679 79,126 -0.4 0.7 0.7 80,400 79,908 86,194 -6.7

 Total Inventories....................... 12,403 12,522 12,552 -1.0 -0.2 1.4 12,340 12,567 12,125 1.8

 All other durable goods: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 9,092 9,004 8,984 1.0 0.2 1.9 9,320 8,891 8,668 7.5

 Total Inventories....................... 58,961 58,557 58,184 0.7 0.6 0.5 59,394 59,301 57,858 2.7

 Capital goods3

:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 773,721 772,603 766,876 0.1 0.7 0.1 780,531 772,469 825,449 -5.4

 Total Inventories....................... 214,145 213,447 212,990 0.3 0.2 -1.1 213,553 213,840 209,797 1.8

 Nondefense capital goods:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 592,333 592,280 587,064 0.0 0.9 -0.2 595,967 592,768 641,955 -7.2

 Total Inventories....................... 192,715 192,009 191,770 0.4 0.1 -1.3 191,974 192,458 188,858 1.6

 Excluding aircraft: 

 Unfilled Orders.................... 228,430 227,287 225,924 0.5 0.6 0.5 230,643 228,794 217,696 5.9

 Total Inventories................... 129,577 129,320 128,749 0.2 0.4 0.3 129,268 129,536 127,784 1.2

 Defense capital goods:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 181,388 180,323 179,812 0.6 0.3 1.0 184,564 179,701 183,494 0.6

 Total Inventories....................... 21,430 21,438 21,220 0.0 1.0 0.8 21,579 21,382 20,939 3.1

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. 

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories, and Orders (M3) Survey, March Advance Report, April 26, 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>.