Farm machinery shipped in April was worth more than $1.94 billion, up 7.6 percent over March's $1.8 billion. However, on a year-to-date basis, shipments of this type of equipment is down 6.8 percent, the Census Bureau reported.
Meanwhile, construction equipment is up slightly on a year-to-year basis, posting a 0.6 percent gain from 2009. Shipments of construction equipment in April went up 3.5 percent, the third month in a row to see increases. The shipment values of this machinery totaled more than $2.19 billion during the fourth month of the year.
Overall, new orders for manufactured goods in the country were up 1.2 percent in April, an increase of $5.1 billion. The total for new orders of manufactured products came to $420.1 billion.
While orders increased, the Obama administration has worked to try and improve the nation's exports. The president has said he wants to double goods exported by the country over the next five years.
