ARLINGTON, Va. — According to the Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute (ARI), combined U.S. factory shipments of 678,358 central air conditioners and air-source heat pumps for March were up 1 percent compared to shipments from the same month last year.

Heat pump shipments of 148,698 were up 9 percent compared to March 2002, while shipments for the first three months of 2003 are up 2 percent from those of last year.

ARI also reports that factory stocks for March 2003 were up 94,270 units from February 2003 and up 85,653 units from March 2002. Distributor inventories for March 2003 were up 56,257 units from February 2003 and down 65,844 units from March 2002. Distributor shipments for March 2003 were down 7 percent from March 2002 with year-to-date shipments down 5 percent.

Publication date: 05/19/2003