Fifth District Survey of Manufacturing Activity: Inventories of raw materials: Current (increase vs decrease; diffusion index; percentage points; seasonally adjusted) - United States - Richmond FED - Monthly
This series is part of the dataset: Fifth District Survey of Manufacturing Activity (Richmond FED)
Download Full Dataset (.xlsx)Latest updates. Based on a sample of manufacturing firms surveyd by the FED, the seasonally adjusted diffusion index for inventories of raw materials (share of CEOs seeing a recent increase minus share reporting a decrease) was 17.0 in September 2025, compared to 24.0 in August 2025.
Sample. The monthly series displayed in the chart has 259 data points. The series covers the period extending from January 1997 to September 2025.
History. Take a look at a few simple statistics computed on the entire sample: the diffusion index had a mean of 14.9; it hit a trough of -25.0 in January 2021; it recorded a maximum of 35.0 in February 2008.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2025-07-31 | 17.0 |
| 2025-08-31 | 24.0 |
| 2025-09-30 | 17.0 |
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Series Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Diffusion index for the question: Did raw materials inventories increase or decrease in the past month? |
| Country | United States |
| Economic concept | Business survey response |
| Data type | Coincident indicator of the business cycle |
| Deflation method | Not applicable |
| Seasonally adjusted | Yes |
| Rescaling | None |
| Frequency | Monthly |
| Unit | Percentage points |
| Source | Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond |
| Source type | Central bank |
| Data licence | Not copyrightable under U.S. law |
| Measure type | Diffusion index (share of respondents reporting an increase minus share reporting a decrease) |
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