The seasonally adjusted Milwaukee Report on Business dipped to 51.3 in January from 52.2 in December, the Institute for Supply Management-Milwaukee reported Thursday.
New orders received grew to 56.7 from 51.5, production gained to 52.4 from 52.2, employment decreased to 55.1 from 55.2, supplier deliveries fell to 49.3 from 54.2, and backlog of orders increased to 50.0 from 42.1.
Inventory levels slid to 43.1 from 47.6, customers' inventories gained to 47.7 from 44.7, prices rose to 60.3 from 57.1, exports declined to 52.5 from 53.9 and imports rose to 59.5 from 53.6.
The blue collar diffusion index decreased to 50.0 from 52.7, while the white collar diffusion index dropped to 52.0 from 60.2.
Respondents' comments included:
--Product lead times and exchange rate fluctuations are of concern.
--Short and long term issuesare tied to time to relocate to other supplies and countries.
--Stable order schedule in general, but seeing spot buys and some customers failing to meet forecast in target regions or products.
--Various resin manufacturers are talking about raising resin prices. If they do we can look at price increases in the plastic sheet and rod that we buy. Most of this has all occurred in the past week. We will have to watch closely in the next several weeks.
--Historically, December and January are slow months -December was very slow this year.
--Looking at increased customer orders (for 2013).
--Back log increasing due to demand higher than output (capacity).
--(Concerned about a) potential port strike on the east coast.
Regarding the six-month outlook:
--We have been seeing a higher demand for products.
--Feedback from suppliers and customers is positive.
--New orders for spring are up.
