U.S. sales of machine tools and related products amounted to $329.43 million during February, according to AMT - The Association for Manufacturing Technology and AMTDA, the American Machine Tool Distributors’ Association, in their monthly United States Manufacturing Technology Consumption (USMTC) report. The figure represented a 10.9% drop from January sales ($371.41 million) and the second consecutive month of declining consumption in the product sector.
Even so, AMT and AMTDA emphasized that the latest figure indicates a 99.3% increase over the year-ago total of $165.31 million, and brings the 2011 year-to-date total to $699.16 million, up 138.1% com-pared over the two-month result for 2010.
“The dramatic year-over-year growth further underscores the manufacturing renaissance that is taking place,” stated AMT president Douglas K. Woods. “As February is a short month, the slight decline from January is to be expected, but the overall gains compared with February 2010 point to our belief that 2011 will be a strong year for the industry.”
Data in the USMTC report are based on totals of actual data reported by participating companies. The USMTC) report is compiled by the two trade associations who represent producers and distributors of manufacturing technology, and it provides consumption data on a national and regional basis, including imports of machine tools and related equipment.
In the regional results, machine tool sales rose in the Northeast and Midwest but decline in the South, Central, and Western regions. In the Northeast, February manufacturing technology consumption rose 10.6% to $55.15 million, from $49.86 million in January, and 104.4% higher than the total for February 2011. Year-to-date sales totals in the Northeast stand at $105.03 million, up 310.7% versus the two-month total for 2010.
In the Midwest, manufacturing technology consumption rose 0.4% from January to February, from $112.47 million to$112.90 million, 161.2% from the February 2010 total. The Midwestern regional total for the year-to-date is $225.38 million, up 178.8% versus January-February 2010.
In the Southern region, February machine tool sales decline 36.0% in February, to $34.35 million versus January’s $53.66 million. The latest total is a 73.1% improvement over the February 2010 total, however. The South’s total manufacturing technology sales for the year to date is $88.01 million, 85.8% above the two-month total for 2010.
February machine tool sales in the Central region totaled $97.49 million, a 11.3% decline from the January total of $109.91 million but an 88.3% increase over February 2010. Year-to-date sales total in the Central region amount to $207.40 million, an improvement of 166.5% over January-February 2010.
In the West, manufacturing technology consumption fell 32.5% in February to $29.52 million, from $43.82 million in January. However, the latest figure is a 25.7% improvement over February 2010 and brings the region’s year-to-date total to $73.34 million, up 109.0% versus the two-month total for 2010.
