The U.S. Census Bureau released its monthly wholesale trade report for January on March 6, showing industry sales decreased month-over-month but were up year-over-year. Meanwhile, inventories jumped following four consecutive monthly decreases.

The figure showed that January sales of merchant wholesalers — except manufacturers’ sales branches and officers, after adjustments for season variations and trading differences but not for price changes — were $680.0 billion. That was down 1.3% from the revised December figures and up 3.5% year-over-year. December monthly sales were revised up from +1.0% to +1.4%.

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January durable goods wholesale trade sales ticked down 2.3% month-over-month and jumped 4.7% year-over-year, while nondurable goods sales likewise decreased 0.3% month-over-month, but increased 2.4% year-over-year.

Inventories

The report showed that total inventories for merchant wholesalers ended January at $906.2 billion, up 0.8% month-over-month, following a revised 0.4% decline in December. Year-over-year, January inventories were up 1.2%.

U.S. Wholesale Inventories: Month-Over-Month % Change

source: tradingeconomics.com

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Inventories/Sales Ratio

The January inventories/sales ratio for merchant wholesalers was 1.33 month-to-month, up from December’s 1.31 but own from January 2024’s 1.36.

Table

Here’s how seasonally-adjusted wholesale trade sales of durable and nondurable goods fared in January on a month-by-month and year-over-year basis.