CSS Monthly Shipments: Slow and Steady Growth

NFPA’s September 2014 Confidential Shipment Statistics (CSS), a monthly source of fluid power shipment and order data trends often used to benchmark company performance, continues to validate the opinions that were shared in the latest State of the Fluid Power Industry Survey and supports the thoughts shared in NFPA’s Economic Update Webinar presented by Jim Chappelow from ITR Economics. Slow and steady growth lies ahead for the fluid power industry, including both hydraulics and pneumatics.

Preliminary September 2014 shipments of fluid power products increased 9.4% compared to September 2013 and increased 1.6% when compared to last month. Mobile hydraulic, industrial hydraulic, and pneumatic shipments increased when compared to September 2013. Mobile hydraulic shipments increased, while industrial hydraulics and pneumatic shipments decreased when compared to last month.

Final August 2014 shipments of fluid power products decreased very slightly to 6.1% for the 2014 calendar year when compared to the same time period in 2013. While both the 12-Month Moving Average (MMA) index of 104.1, an indicator of change in the size of the industry, and the 12/12 Ratio index of 105.7, an indicator of change in the rate of growth in the industry, maintain levels about 100 and continue to grow. The direction and speed in which these two index indicators move, as well as their position above or below 100, can help you understand the short-term outlook for our industry.

After examining the information above, “Steady as she goes” should be the quote of the month (and probably the next several months) as we get to look forward to wrapping up 2014 on a positive note.

The Confidential Shipments Statistics (CSS) Program – The monthly source of aggregated industry data for the U.S. fluid power industry.

This report presents data on monthly shipments and orders collected from NFPA membership, and it helps users understand and anticipate change within the industry. Member companies can benchmark their own performance against overall industry performance using the results. Data is collected from participating U.S. fluid power manufacturers, compiled by a third-party to maintain confidentiality, and results are sent to CSS participants.

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