HIGH POINT — Furniture factory orders in June were up 9% from the same month a year earlier as the industry continued to outdo last year's number but still lagged behind its 2008 performance, according to Smith Leonard.

"Year to date, new orders remained at 10% higher than in the first half of 2009, when orders for the first half of 2009 were 20% below the first half of 2008. This would mean that orders for the first half of 2010 were 12.5% below the first half of 2008," Ken Smith, managing partner of Smith Leonard, wrote in his monthly Furniture Insights newsletter.

Shipments for June were up 13% from a year earlier as the industry worked off some of its backlog, the firm reported. For the first half, shipments were up 7% from the 2009 pace.

The backlog in June was 35% higher than last year, down from 40% in May.

Some 69% of the participants in the firm's factory survey reported that June orders were up from a year earlier, up slightly from May, the firm said.

"While we still have a ways to go to get back to 2008 numbers, at least the increases continue to come," Smith said. "Not to be negative, but we need to remember that 2008 results were also off for the most part in the double digit range, especially in the last half of the year."