May 2022 shipments came in at $6.77 billion, up from April’s $6.73 billion, making this the best May the industry has had since 2019—although it’s well below that month’s $7.92 billion. The trendline for 2022 thus far looks to be mimicking 2019 and hopefully—barring any unanticipated problems (monkeypox, anyone?)—we should continue along that trajectory. (We still don’t anticipate a recession this year unless someone deliberately creates one.)
Year to date, we are closing in on 2021—January to May shipments for 2022 are at $33.20 billion, a bit under 2021’s $33.38 billion. If things go according to plan, we could exceed 2021’s overall shipments.
