U.S. Machine Tool Sales Rose 41% in December

Feb. 15, 2011
Sales up across all regions; full-year total up 85% over 2009

U.S. manufacturers and machine shops purchased a total of $446.76 million in machine tools and related products and supplies during December 2010, according to the monthly U.S. Manufacturing Technology Con-sumption report. The total indicated a rise of 40.9% over the $318.18 million in sales recorded for November 2010, and up 104.8% over the $218.16 million of sales for December 2009.

In addition, the December total brings the total 2010 manufacturing technology consumption total to $3,236.00 million, an 85.3% increase over the total sales for 2009.

The USMTC report is based on actual sales totals reported by companies participating in the survey, and released by AMT – The Association for Manufacturing Technology and AMTDA, the American Machine Tool Distributors’ Association.

“For the first time in USMTC history, we experienced four months of consecutive growth following IMTS, ending the year on a solid upswing,” stated AMT president Douglas K. Woods. “2010 orders closed strong, up 85% over 2009, and December’s orders were 40.9% higher than the previous month. With backlogs firming and quotation levels accelerating, we are very optimistic that the industry will see strong results in 2011.”

The monthly report also covers machine tool sales in five geographic regions. In December, each re-gion’s results showed increase an increase over the previous month. For example, in the Northeast manu-facturing technology consumption totaled $66.17 million for the month, up 5.9% from November’s $62.50 million total and up 52.6% over the December 2009 total.

Total 2010 machine tool sales in the Northeast amounted $589.79 million, 74.4% over the region’s 2009 total.

In the South, December machine tool rose 26.9% to $45.62 million, up 26.9% from $35.94 million in November and up 55.0% compared with December 2009. The Southern region’s 2010 manufacturing technology consumption totaled $430.27 million, up 76.3% over the full year total for 2009.

The Midwest region reported manufacturing technology consumption of $165.96 million in December, a rise of 48.9% over the November 2010 total, $111.42 million; and a rise of 169.3% over the December 2009 total. Full-year 2010 sales of machine tools in the Midwest amounted to $1,020.76 million, 104.8% more than the full-year 2009 regional sales total.

December manufacturing technology consumption in the Central region rose 50.4% to $113.36 million, from $71.10 million in November, and up 108.0% over the December 2009 total. Total 2010 machine tool sales for the region were $834.86 million, up 95.9% from the 2009 regional total.

Finally, in the West machine tool consumption rose 54.3% to $55.65 million in December, from $36.07 million in November, and up 90.5% versus December 2009. The region’s 12-month consumption was $360.33 million, up 50.5% over the full-year total for 2009.

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