Manufacturing & Trade Inventories & Sales
Census.gov › Business & Industry › Manufacturing & Trade Inventories & Sales › How the Data are Collected
How the Data are Collected
The estimates in the Manufacturing and Trade Inventories and Sales (MTIS) report are based on data from three surveys: the Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories, and Orders Survey (M3), the Monthly Wholesale Trade Survey (MWTS), and the Monthly Retail Trade Survey (MRTS). You can find information concerning how the Census Bureau uses statistics to generate estimates for each of these surveys by following the links below:
- Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories and Orders Survey Methodology [PDF, 100KB]
- Monthly Wholesale Trade Survey Methodology
- Monthly Retail Trade Survey Methodology
[PDF] or 
denotes a file in Adobe’s Portable Document Format.
To view the file, you will need the
Adobe® Acrobat® Reader
available free from Adobe.
[Excel] or the letters [xls] indicate a document is in the Microsoft® Excel® Spreadsheet Format
(XLS). To view the file, you will need the
Microsoft®
Excel® Viewer
available for free from Microsoft®.
denotes a file in Adobe’s Portable Document Format.
To view the file, you will need the
Adobe® Acrobat® Reader
available free from Adobe.
[Excel] or the letters [xls] indicate a document is in the Microsoft® Excel® Spreadsheet Format
(XLS). To view the file, you will need the
Microsoft®
Excel® Viewer
available for free from Microsoft®.
