Manufacturing in Oklahoma grew in March, according to a survey released last week by The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.

The bank’s March Manufacturing Survey for the Tenth District, which includes Oklahoma, showed manufacturing activity grew solidly compared to a month ago and a year ago. Chad Wilkerson, vice president and economist at the bank said the survey results indicate positive expectations for future activity.

“Regional factories continued to report solid growth in March,” said Wilkerson. “Materials prices remain extremely high for most firms. However, many manufacturers have been able to pass through at least a portion of the price increases on to customers.”

According to the survey, the growth was driven more by durable goods plants for primary metals, machinery, transportation equipment, furniture, and miscellaneous manufacturing.

Month-over-month indexes for shipments, new orders, and order backlog expanded at a faster pace in March and supplier delivery time was very high as well. Growth in production and employment remained positive, but slightly slower than in recent months.

Materials inventories were positive while finished goods inventories dipped further from a month ago. Year-over-year factory indexes rose in March, and business conditions are now comparable to levels at the start of the pandemic last year.

The survey also shows that while the year-overyear index increased, new orders for exports and finished goods inventories continued to lag year-ago levels.

For the March survey, contacts were asked special questions about materials price increases and the impact of the vaccination rollout on business conditions.

While eight percent of firms said they can fully pass price increases through to customers, 49 percent of firms recorded that they could pass through a majority of price increases. Another 32 percent of firms reported the ability to pass through only a minority of price increases through to the customer, and 11 percent were unable to pass through price increases at all.

Regarding the pandemic, 42 percent of firms said the current pace of vaccinations and trajectory of the pandemic had not changed their business plans. On the other hand, a quarter of firms said the state of COVID-19 cases and vaccinations caused them to relax COVID cautionary measures in the workplace and increase business travel.

Twenty one percent of firms also reported an increase in demand for products and percent were hiring more workers as a result. Another 12 percent of contacts indicated they are considering bringing employees back to the office sooner than expected due to the drop in COVID-19 cases and vaccination progress and 9 percent of firms already brought employees back.