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18 PalletCentral • May-June 2020 palletcentral.com Biggest Concern W e are now seeing the impact of the COVID-19 economic shutdown reflected in the bottom line of the wooden pallet and container industry. One only has to look at the headlines of major news outlets to understand the reach. Several reports, all released on June 1, reflect the pulse of the current economy. Reported by CNBC writer David Spiegel, "Nearly half (48.8%) of leading chief financial officers surveyed in the latest CNBC Global CFO Council Survey say the COVID-19 pandemic will have a 'negative' impact on their companies in 2020, while another 39% say it will have a 'very negative' impact." The article states, "The CNBC Global CFO Council represents some of the largest public and private companies in the world, collectively managing more than $5 trillion in market value across a wide variety of sectors." Yet, there is some encouraging news: "U.S. manufacturing industry stabilizes after plunging to financial-crisis lows, ISM survey reveals" reports BusinessInsider.com. While manufacturing is still significantly below where it should be, the increase is positive news. The article by Ben Winck says: "The Institute for Supply Management's U.S. manufacturing survey ticked slightly higher in May, ending a four-month decline that placed the industry at its lowest levels since the financial crisis. "The organization's purchasing managers' index gained to 43.1 last month from 41.5, still deep in contraction territory but stabilizing off of its 11-year low. The index of new orders jumped to 31.8 from 27.1, and ISM's production metric leaped to 33.2 from 27.5. "'May appears to be a transition month, as many panelists and their suppliers returned to work late in the month. However, demand remains uncertain, likely impacting inventories, customer inventories, employment, imports and backlog of orders," Timothy Fiore, chair of the ISM Business Survey Committee, said in the report.'" Efforts to flatten the COVID-19 curve has left behind an equally flat economy. The fallout from the global shutdown is yet to be fully known, and forecasts are less than encouraging. is the An NWPCA member survey reflects industry concerns from their customers, their businesses and the workforce. By Caryn Smith NWPCA COVID-19 SURVEY iStockphoto.com/Maneeta Chauyrod