December's LMI dipped againThe US December Logistics Manager’s Index (LMI) sits at 54.2, down 1.5 points from November, marking the lowest rate of expansion since April, 2024.
The December LMI figure of 54.2 is the sixth consecutive month the index has decreased or remained steady month-on-month (m-o-m), with index authors saying the majority of downward pressure came from inventory and warehousing markets.
The LMI is produced by researchers at Arizona State University, Colorado State University, Florida Atlantic University, Rutgers University, and the University of Nevada, Reno in conjunction with the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) using responses from supply chain professionals.
Any reading above 50.0 indicates that logistics is expanding in the US; a reading below 50.0 is indicative of a shrinking logistics industry.
The December LMI was down 1.4 points
LMI authors say the downward pressure from inventory and warehousing markets led to an extreme contraction of inventory levels to sit at 35.1 in December, a fall of 17.4 points m-o-m.
In turn this led to Inventory Cost expansion slowing, down 8.1 points m-o-m to be 62.9 in December.
“At the same time, Warehousing Capacity increased (+6.4) to 61.2 and Warehousing Utilization hit a second-consecutive all-time low, decreasing (-4.7) to 42.9,” the December LMI states.
“All of these downward movements are due to firms continuing to move inventories downstream towards consumers, providing a final wave of relief to the firms that had been holding onto unprecedented levels of inventory throughout 2025.
“This downstream push catalyzed transportation metrics, with Transportation Capacity (-13.1) moving back to contraction at 36.9 in a move that carriers have been waiting on for nearly three years. The contraction in available capacity pushed Transportation Prices up (+1.8) to 66.7, which is the highest reading for this metric since January and the initial inventory pull-forward that started the year.”