This report represents a recompilation of establishments and sales data collected in the 1992 Census of Wholesale Trade according to various categories of commodity lines sold by wholesale establishments.

An individual establishment (i.e., business location) is the unit to which a single kind-of-business classification is assigned and for which data are summarized in most wholesale census tabulations. Prior to their recompilation by commodity line category, kind-of-business statistics did not reveal the commodity line composition of wholesale sales. Therefore, they did not meet many important data needs of manufacturers, retailers, the Government, business analysts, wholesalers, and other data users.

To meet some of these needs, sales by commodity line that were collected in the census are presented in this report by broad commodity line groupings. While information is desired for individual products or more detailed commodity line categories than are shown in this report, reporting in greater detail was not feasible.

In planning the commodity line inquiries for the 1992 Census of Wholesale Trade, the Bureau of the Census consulted extensively with trade associations and business firms, both for advise on the information to be provided by the census and on the reportability of the data on which such information would be based. The amount of detail requested in the census reflected both of these considerations, with reportability being the limiting factor.

Broad commodity lines were devised to account for all the sales and receipts of wholesale establishments regardless of kind-of-business classification. These lines are identified in the various tables by commodity line codes ending in ‘‘0’’. In addition to the major lines, additional detail within certain of these major lines was requested on many of the report forms.