Current Industrial Reports

The Current Industrial Report (CIR) program provided monthly, quarterly, and annual measures of industrial activity for many years. Since 1904, with its cotton and fats and oils surveys, the CIR program formed an essential part of an integrated statistical system involving the quinquennial economic census, manufacturing sector, and the annual survey of manufactures. The surveys, however, provided current statistics at a more detailed product level than either of the other two statistical programs.

The primary objective of the CIR program was to produce timely, accurate data on production and shipments of selected products. The data were used to satisfy economic policy needs and for market analysis, forecasting, and decision making in the private sector. Individual firms, trade associations, and market analysts in planning or recommending marketing and legislative strategies used the product-level data generated by these surveys extensively, particularly if foreign trade significantly affected their industry. Although production and shipments information were the two most common data items collected, the CIR program collected other measures also such as inventories, orders, and consumption. These surveys measured manufacturing activity in important commodity areas such as textiles and apparel, chemicals, primary metals, computer and electronic components, industrial equipment, aerospace equipment, and consumer goods.

This collection was terminated in 2011.