The U.S. government in October printed fewer banknotes that were worth much more compared to its September output, according to Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) figures released on Wednesday.
608,000,000 banknotes were produced last month valued at $14,131,200,000. In contrast, the BEP printed 643.2M Notes Worth $4B in September.
The biggest accounting for the difference was October’s more than 115,000 one-hundred dollar bills. September had none.
The BEP also produced 20,000 sheets each of $1s and $20s (total of these not in table below). Star notes are replacements for misprinted notes or certain serial numbers, like 000 000 000, and are typically more desirable to collectors as they are rarer.
Spread across the 31 days in October and counting weekends and holidays, the BEP averaged more than 19.6 million notes per day with a total daily face value worth about $455.8 million.
Government reporting indicates that 95% of the notes made each year are used to replace those already in, or taken out of circulation. If this percentage is run across October, then "new or extra" notes for circulation is slashed down to $22.8 million per day.
October 2008: Printed Notes by Denomination, Volume and Face Value
| Denomination | Total Printed | Total Face Value |
| $1 | 243,200,000 | 243,200,000 |
| $5 | 115,200,000 | 576,000,000 |
| $10 | 89,600,000 | 896,000,000 |
| $20 | 44,800,000 | 896,000,000 |
| $100 | 115,200,000 | 11,520,000,000 |
| Total | 608,000,000 | 14,131,200,000 |
September 2008 – Printed Notes by Denomination, Volume and Face Value
| Denomination | Total Printed | Total Face Value |
| $1 | 316,800,000 | 316,800,000 |
| $5 | 140,800,000 | 704,000,000 |
| $10 | 70,400,000 | 704,000,000 |
| $20 | 115,200,000 | 2,304,000,000 |
| Total | 643,200,000 | 4,028,800,000 |
Aside from CoinNews reports, monthly banknote production totals may be found on the BEP page Monthly Production Figures.
