The latest US orders data from our colleagues at AMT shows a continuation of recent trends with the machine tool market still on a downward trend while demand for cutting tools remains high but has come off slightly from the peak level we saw in the Spring.
The US Manufacturing Technology Orders (USMTO) programme tracks orders in the US market, based on the reports from participants in the survey. In the first eight months of 2024 (January to August), total machine tool orders were -11.5% lower than in the same period of last year and the rolling-annual total is -10.8% down on the level in the previous 12 months.
Despite the weak numbers, the AMT press release notes orders in August were slightly higher than the long-run average for this month, capacity utilisation for durable goods manufacturers are at historically high levels and, with IMTS in September, an element of pause in orders is not unusual. They also note that orders from contract manufacturers and the aerospace sector increased in August.
Most of the regions are sharing in the downturn in orders, with the largest reductions being in the North-Central-East (-23%) and South-Central (-21%) areas, with the North-East (-18%) not far behind and a more modest reduction in the North-Central-West (-10%). The Western (+9%) and South-Eastern (+2%) regions are running a little ahead of where they were in 2023.
The US Cutting Tool Market Report (CTMR) tracks orders for tooling on a similar basis, except it uses shipments rather than orders (there is little difference in these measures for tooling). In the first eight months of this year, shipments are +1.5% higher than the same months of 2023 (January to August). The 12-month rolling total is still positive at +2.2% above the level of the previous period (September to August 2022) but this rate has decelerated every month since the peak in June 2023.
The press release highlights some issues that point in different directions for the demand in the next few months. Strikes at Boeing will reduce demand but the defense (sic) sector remains strong.
You can download the press releases for the two surveys from the AMT web-site at https://www.amtonline.org/topic/intelligence, with the CTMR release also published on the USCTI web-site at www.uscti.com (go to the News tab); alternatively, you can request either or both releases from MTA and we can make sure you get them when they are published each month. We have attached a set of charts tracking the rolling 12-month totals from these two surveys which you can download below.