Domestic manufacturers’ cutting-tool purchases totaled $174.92 million during September, according to the latest release of the Cutting Tool Market Report (CTMR), a record of consumption that correlates to changes in manufacturing activity. The latest figure indicates a -10.9% change in consumption from August and a +1.9% increase compared with the September 2016 total. Through September, the year-to-date total for U.S. cutting tool consumption is $1.637 billion, +7.0% compared to the January-September 2016 total.
“The year-to-date increase, the stock market performance and the positive forecasts at the AMT Global Forecasting Conference provides further confidence that the manufacturing industry will continue its growth,” stated Brad Lawton, chairman of AMT’s Cutting Tool Product Group.
AMT, together with the U.S. Cutting Tool Institute (USCTI), compiles the CTMR from data supplied by participating member companies, who represent the majority of the U.S. market for cutting tools.
Cutting tools are high-value consumable products used by manufacturers to perform not only cutting but turning, grinding, honing, and various other production processes. As such, consumption of cutting tools presents a quantifiable index to the current state of manufacturing activity, comparable to durable goods shipments.
“Despite usual summer month volatility, year-to-date cutting tool shipments remains 7% above their 2016 levels. Durable goods shipments data confirm this positive backdrop with growth up 5% year-over-year in September,” according to Gregory Daco, chief U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics, quoted by the CTMR sources.
“Looking ahead, durable goods orders are rising at an 8.3% year-over-year clip in September, and leading manufacturing indicators point to elevated domestic and global confidence,” Daco continued. “Passage of a pro-growth tax cut package could further boost business activity and optimism, but the risk of protectionist measures still looms over the outlook.”
