2017 Federal Reserve Note Print Order
The Board of Governors (the Board), as the issuing authority for Federal Reserve notes, approved and submitted its fiscal year (FY) 2017 order for approximately 7.1 billion Federal Reserve notes, valued at $209.0 billion, to the U.S. Treasury Department's Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) on June 27, 2016.1
The more than 7.1 billion notes included in the FY 2017 order reflect the Board's estimate of demand for currency from domestic and international customers. The print order is determined by denomination and is based on destruction rates and historical payments to and receipts from circulation. Historically, the majority of the notes that the Board orders each year replace unfit currency that Reserve Banks receive from circulation.2 The estimated number of notes that Reserve Banks will destroy accounts for about 71 percent of the FY 2017 print order and includes both unfit currency, as well as all old-designs of some denominations received from circulation.3 The expected growth of Reserve Bank net payments (payments less receipts) to circulation and inventory management adjustments account for the remainder of the notes in the FY 2017 print order. The table below reflects the denominational breakdown of the Board's FY 2017 order.4
| Denomination | Number of Notesa (000s of pieces) |
Dollar Value (000s of dollars) |
|---|---|---|
| $1 | 2,425,600 | $2,425,600 |
| $2 | 0 | 0 |
| $5 | 915,200 | $4,576,000 |
| $10 | 262,400 | $2,624,000 |
| $20 | 1,715,200 | $34,304,000 |
| $50 | 268,800 | $13,440,000 |
| $100 | 1,516,800 | $151,680,000 |
| Total | 7,104,000 | $209,049,000 |
a. The FY 2017 order includes a small quantity of notes that the BEP has requested to make available for sale in the BEP Store® and to meet special requests from the Secretary of the Treasury. Return to table.
The Board's FY 2017 order of 7.1 billion notes represents a decrease of almost 0.5 billion notes, or nearly 6.3 percent, from the FY 2016 order. Despite the smaller order, the number of notes in circulation increased 5.0 percent last year and the smaller order reflects increased private-sector recirculation of $10 and $20 notes. The FY 2017 order also does not include any $2 notes, as the FY 2016 order included notes needed to meet demand for multiple years.
Appendix
Chart 1
Fiscal Year Print Orders
Footnotes
1. The BEP operates on a fiscal year that begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The Board submits its annual order for Federal Reserve notes at least 60 days before the beginning of the BEP's fiscal year. Return to text.
2. Unfit notes are notes that are received in deposits from depository institutions that are destroyed because they do not meet the Federal Reserve's quality criteria for recirculation. Return to text.
3. New fitness and authentication sensors at the Reserve Banks have resulted in fewer notes being prematurely destroyed. Between 2011 and 2015, the Reserve Banks replaced all fitness and authentication sensors with new state-of-the-art sensors. The implementation of this new sensor suite decreased destruction rates by more than two percentage points and reduced the number of notes destroyed by nearly 0.5 billion, annually. Return to text.
4. Chart 1 in the appendix shows the Federal Reserve's print orders between FY 2007 and FY 2017. Return to text.