Domestic purchases of machine tools and related equipment and technology fell 5.7% from July to August, from $266.08 million to $246.42 million, according to the U.S. Manufacturing Technology Consumption report. The USMTC is a monthly survey compiled by the Association for Manufacturing Technology (AMT) and the American Machine Tool Distributors Assn. (AMTDA), and represents production and distribution of manufacturing technology on a national and regional basis.
The two trade groups emphasize that the August consumption figure represents an improvement of 88.0% over the August 2009 total ($131.06 million) and brings nationwide year-to-date machine tool consumption to $1,697.27 million, a rise of 62.4% versus the first eight months of 2009.
“Despite the normal summer slowdown, the first eight months of 2010 saw an order rate that was up 60% over the same time period in 2009,” stated AMT president Douglas K. Woods. “We expect orders to be strong through the remainder of the year due in part to Congress extending the bonus depreciation allowance, which will remain in effect through December.”
In the regional consumption data, the USMTC finds that August sales of machine tools and related equipment and technology declined for the month in the Northeast, Midwest, and West, but continued to rise in the South and Central states. Consumption remains well ahead of 2009 data across all regions.
Specifically, in the Northeast totaled $39.16 million, a decline of 24.0% from July ($51.56 million) but an increase of 63.7% over August 2009. Northeastern regional consumption for 2010 now stands at $298.77 million, 49.3% over the regional consumption total for eight months of 2009.
In the South, August manufacturing technology consumption amounted to $30.71 million, or 20.3% more than in July ($25.52 million) and 32.7% more than in August 2009. For the first eight months of 2010, Southern regional machine tool consumption stands at $242.10 million, 59.3% above the comparable figure for 2009.
In he Midwest, August sales of machine tools and technology totaled $82.59 million, a decline of 12.2% from July ($94.02 million) but up 133.0% versus August 2009. Year-to-date sales in the region stand at $509.21 million, 73.2% more than were tallied in the Midwest for the first eight months of 2009.
The Central region reported August manufacturing technology consumption of $69.13 million, an increase of 13.4% from July consumption ($60.96 million) and 120.2% from August 2009 consumption. For the first eight months of 2010, Central regional consumption stands at $450.21 million, up 76.4% versus the comparable period of 2009.
In the West, consumption of machine tools and related equipment and technology amounted to $24.84 million in August, a drop of 15.4% from the July total ($29.37 million) but up 44.7% from the August 2009 total. The eight-month total for the Western region is $196.98 million, 37.1% above consumption for the comparable period of 2009.
