March Shipments and Orders Highest Ever Reported

By Michael Degan, Fluid Power Journal Editor.

The National Fluid Power Association reported Thursday that shipments and orders of fluid power products hit an all-time high in March.

Fluid power companies participating in NFPA’s Confidential Shipments Statistics program reported the highest value of shipments and orders in the history of program, NFPA said.

The participating companies report dollar figures for the orders and shipments they handle each month. NFPA calculates an index number based on those dollar figures.

The index figure for shipments of fluid power products in March was 116.7. For orders of fluid power products in March, the index figure was 122. Those numbers are the highest values ever reported since the inception of the program in January 1960, NFPA said.

For comparison, consider that in February, the index was 97.9 for shipments and 111.8 for orders.

“Seasonally, March is the strongest month of the year for orders and shipments, and that plays a part in the high numbers,” NFPA said on its website. “However, despite lingering supply chain problems, fluid power shipments and orders hit an all-time high,” NFPA said.

NFPA said the graphs below represent the latest updates.

 

Base Year 2018 = 100. All data non-seasonally adjusted and not adjusted for inflation. The latest point in each graph represents data for March 2022.

“Fluid power was not alone in reporting highs for shipments and orders,” NFPA said on its website. NFPA said March shipments “hit an all-time high” in these fluid power markets:

• Automobile, Light Truck, and Utility Vehicle
• Heavy Duty Truck
• Construction Machinery
• Material Handling Equipment
• Chemical Products
• Durable Goods Shipments

Quoting ITR Economics, NFPA said its fluid power shipments index is forecast to “end 2022 up 7% over 2021. Year-to-date 2022 shipments are up 14.9% over the same time period last year. We can expect shipments to continue to increase, but at a decreasing rate for the remainder of 2022.”

For more information, visit www.nfpa.com/.