U.S. manufacturers’ new orders for machine tools and related equipment and technology (known collectively as “manufacturing technology”) rose to $385.89 million in February, up5.7% from the revised January resultof $365.05 million. However, the new totals represent a -10.6% decline from the February 2012 result, $431.63 million.
Also, for the year to date — January-February 2013 — U.S. manufacturers’ new orders total $750.94 million, a decline of –11.9% from the results of the first two months of 2012.
The data is contained in the monthly U.S. Manufacturing Technology Orders program is compiled by AMT - the Association For Manufacturing Technology, and represents actual results for production and distribution of capital equipment and technology, both domestic and imported products.
“A month-to-month gain is certainly good to see, and these numbers seem to echo some of the other recent economic data, including gains in both factory orders and durable goods orders,” stated AMT president Douglas K.Woods.
“A year-to-date decline in orders compared to 2012 is in line with expectations we had for a slight slowdown in the first two quarters of 2013,” Woods continued, “though second-half growth is expected to offset the slump. This is in line with our economists’ predictions that orders for 2013 will stay relatively flat compared to 2012.”
Regional results
The USMTO project also tracks orders in six regions, providing insight to development in different sectors of the manufacturing economy.
In the Northeast, manufacturers’ new orders totaled $53.30 million during February, up 7.7% from the January total, $49.50 million, and down -4.5% against the February 2012 result.
The Northeast’s regional total for the year to date is $102.79 million, a -10.9% decline versus the $115.32 million result for 2012’s first two months.
The Southeast had February orders totaling $29.43 million, which was decline of -17.9% from January’s $35.84 million, and an a decline of -36.1% compared to February 2012
For the January-February 2013 period, the Southeast has had orders totaling $65.27 million, a -10.0% fall off from $72.52 million posted for the first two months of 2012.
New orders in the North Central-East region amounted to $111.92 million in February, a rise of 17.4% from $95.37 million on record for January, and also a rise of 8.7% from the $102.99 result from February 2012.
The current year’s two-month total in the North Central-East region is $207.29 million, off -4.2% versus the comparable figure for January-February 2012, $ 216.42 million.
In the North Central-West region, new orders for manufacturing technology rose 12.7% to $80.22 million in February, up from January’s total of $71.15 million, but down -1.9% from the February 2012 result, $81.80 million
In the North Central-West region, the current year-to-date total for new orders of manufacturing technology of $151.36 million is down -3.2% compared with $156.43 2012 for January-February 2012.
The South-Central region had manufacturing technology orders of $58.50 million, off the January result of $72.96 million by -19.8%, and trailing February 2012’s total by -37.6%
With an annual total of $131.46 million, the region’s tally for 2013 is off the year-ago figure ($191.46 million) by -31.3%.
Finally, in the West region, manufacturing technology orders rose 30.5% in February to $52.53 million, up from $40.24 million for January, and also rose 2.7% from $51.14 million for February 2012.
The two-month total for new orders in the region is $92.77 million, a -7.6% compared to $100.36 million in new orders for January-February 2012.
