Post Pandemic Orders Declining

Retailers are reducing orders for the fall more than expected, says Newell Brands Inc. This indicates that merchants are stepping up efforts to pare back their inventory stockpiles. The distributor of Sharpie markers and Rubbermaid products now expects a decline in sales from a year ago, when retailers were re-building inventories depleted early in the pandemic and manufacturers were scrambling to scale up production. Freight volumes are wavering and shipping-industry data shows transportation prices are dropping because capacity now exceeds demand. The Global Port Tracker report issued by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates says import volumes into major U.S. ports fell 0.4 per cent in July from the year-ago level and the projection for August is container imports would be down 4.3 per cent from August 2021.