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. According to survey data about manufacturers based in the Fifth District, the seasonally adjusted diffusion index for inventories of raw materials (share of CEOs seeing a recent increase minus share reporting a decrease) stood at 8.0 in January 2026, compared to 10.0 in December 2025.
Sample. In the monthly time series displayed in the chart, there are a total of 347 records. The series covers the time period stretching from January 1997 to January 2026.
History. Here are some statistics calculated on the entire sample: the diffusion index recorded its maximum of 35.0 in February 2016; it reached its lowest level of -25.0 in July 2021; it averaged 14.9.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2025-11-30 | 30.0 |
| 2025-12-31 | 10.0 |
| 2026-01-31 | 8.0 |
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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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