Surveys

Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey

March 26, 2018

Results Table

Business Indicators Relating to Facilities and Products in Texas Current (versus previous month)
Indicator	Mar Index	Feb Index	Change	Indicator Direction*	Trend** (Months)	% Reporting Increase	% Reporting No Change	% Reporting Decrease
Production	12.7	27.9	–15.2	Increasing	21	26.1	60.5	13.4
Capacity Utilization	9.6	19.6	–10.0	Increasing	21	22.1	65.4	12.5
New Orders	8.3	25.3	–17.0	Increasing	17	24.7	58.9	16.4
Growth Rate of Orders	3.8	15.3	–11.5	Increasing	15	18.4	67.0	14.6
Unfilled Orders	6.0	11.5	–5.5	Increasing	15	16.4	73.2	10.4
Shipments	9.3	32.1	–22.8	Increasing	16	24.6	60.1	15.3
Delivery Time	2.5	4.8	–2.3	Increasing	9	12.8	76.9	10.3
Finished Goods Inventories	1.8	7.6	–5.8	Increasing	2	17.0	67.9	15.2
Prices Paid for Raw Materials	41.4	39.8	+1.6	Increasing	25	45.6	50.2	4.2
Prices Received for Finished Goods	18.5	22.5	–4.0	Increasing	20	22.9	72.7	4.4
Wages and Benefits	22.9	32.2	–9.3	Increasing	100	23.6	75.7	0.7
Employment	10.8	19.1	–8.3	Increasing	15	19.8	71.2	9.0
Hours Worked	9.4	16.3	–6.9	Increasing	17	20.7	68.0	11.3
Capital Expenditures	17.7	23.7	–6.0	Increasing	19	21.7	74.3	4.0

General Business Conditions Current (versus previous month)
Indicator	Mar Index	Feb Index	Change	Indicator Direction*	Trend** (Months)	% Reporting Improved	% Reporting No Change	% Reporting Worsened
Company Outlook	19.6	31.5	–11.9	Improving	19	28.5	62.6	8.9
General Business Activity	21.4	37.2	–15.8	Improving	18	30.2	61.0	8.8


Indicator	Mar Index	Feb Index	Change	Indicator Direction*	Trend** (Months)	% Reporting Increase	% Reporting No Change	% Reporting Decrease
Outlook Uncertainty†	2.8	–5.8	+8.6	Increasing	1	19.0	64.8	16.2

Business Indicators Relating to Facilities and Products in Texas Future (six months ahead)
Indicator	Mar Index	Feb Index	Change	Indicator Direction	Trend* (Months)	% Reporting Increase	% Reporting No Change	% Reporting Decrease
Production	45.7	46.0	–0.3	Increasing	109	53.3	39.1	7.6
Capacity Utilization	46.9	45.9	+1.0	Increasing	109	53.1	40.7	6.2
New Orders	44.5	49.6	–5.1	Increasing	109	52.9	38.7	8.4
Growth Rate of Orders	34.1	37.5	–3.4	Increasing	109	42.0	50.1	7.9
Unfilled Orders	16.4	18.2	–1.8	Increasing	30	23.5	69.4	7.1
Shipments	48.4	44.4	+4.0	Increasing	109	55.9	36.6	7.5
Delivery Time	6.3	2.8	+3.5	Increasing	16	15.3	75.7	9.0
Finished Goods Inventories	5.7	5.9	–0.2	Increasing	5	15.1	75.5	9.4
Prices Paid for Raw Materials	50.5	43.0	+7.5	Increasing	108	53.3	43.9	2.8
Prices Received for Finished Goods	28.7	31.6	–2.9	Increasing	26	34.3	60.2	5.6
Wages and Benefits	48.9	49.7	–0.8	Increasing	166	49.3	50.3	0.4
Employment	34.3	34.0	+0.3	Increasing	64	43.4	47.6	9.1
Hours Worked	18.9	15.1	+3.8	Increasing	22	25.5	67.9	6.6
Capital Expenditures	36.1	39.6	–3.5	Increasing	100	40.7	54.6	4.6

General Business Conditions Future (six months ahead)
Indicator	Mar Index	Feb Index	Change	Indicator Direction*	Trend** (Months)	% Reporting Increase	% Reporting No Change	% Reporting Worsened
Company Outlook	30.9	34.5	–3.6	Improving	26	38.6	53.7	7.7
General Business Activity	32.0	40.6	–8.6	Improving	22	38.8	54.4	6.8

*Indicator direction refers to this month's index. If index is positive (negative), indicator is increasing (decreasing) or improving (worsening). If zero, indicator is unchanged.

**Number of months moving in current direction.

†Added to survey in January 2018.

Data have been seasonally adjusted as necessary, with the exception of the outlook uncertainty index which does not yet have a sufficiently long time series to test for seasonality.

Questions regarding the Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey can be addressed to Emily Kerr at emily.kerr@dal.frb.org.