High Point (Furniture Today).- 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.