HIGH POINT – According to the latest Furniture Insights report from accounting and consulting firm Smith Leonard PLLC, new orders in June 2008 declined 14% from new orders received in June 2007. The June decline brought the year-to-date results to a decrease of 9% in new orders compared to 8% last month. Despite the large drop in orders, only 65% of the participants surveyed for this latest report said they had declining orders. The difference for this month was that several of the participants reported significant declines in orders, while most with increases were relatively small.

Shipments in June were 9% less than June of 2007, but were 4% more than the May 2008 results. Year-to-date shipments dropped to 9% less than last year, up from 8% last month. During the first half of 2007, shipments were 7% below the first half of 2006.