May 2010 sales of merchant wholesalers were down 0.3 percent to $350.6 billion from April, but were up 15.1 percent from the May 2009 level, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report released today. It was the first monthly decline since March 2009.

“Overall levels remain lean and probably below what merchants would prefer to have, given current sales rates,” Richard DeKaser, chief economist at Woodley Park Research in Washington, D.C., told Bloomberg.

May sales of durable goods were up 0.5 percent from April and up 18.2 percent from a year ago, while nondurable goods sales were down 1 percent from the month prior, but up 12.6 percent from one year ago.

The amount of goods on hand compared with sales was close to a record low, Bloomberg reported, which indicates production will be sustained in coming months.

Total inventories of merchant wholesalers were $398.8 billion at the end of May, which was up 0.5 percent from the April level, but down 2.1 percent from a year ago. End-of-month inventories of durable goods – those goods meant to last several years — were up 0.7 percent from last month, but were down 4.4 percent from last May. End-of-month inventories of nondurable goods were up 0.1 percent from April and up 1.6 percent from May 2009.

“While the big inventory boost of the past year is not going to be repeated going forward, there’s still room for inventories to contribute to growth over the next three to six months,” DeKaser said.