U.S. sales of machine tools and related products (“manufacturing technology”) rose 57.6% in March, to $511.15 million from $329.43 million in February, and marked the first month of 2011 in which con-sumption increased. The data is contained in the United States Manufacturing Technology Consumption (USMTC) report prepared by AMTDA, the American Machine Tool Distributors’ Association and AMT - The Association For Manufacturing Technology.
Information in the monthly report is provided by companies participating in the USMTC program, which provides regional and national U.S. consumption data of domestic and imported machine tools and related equipment.
The March USMTC report not only marked an impressive rise over the February results but it posts a 118.6% increase over the March 2010 data. For the first three months of 2011, U.S. manufacturing tech-nology consumption stands at $1,203.57 million, up 118.6% versus the January-March 2010 period.
“Machine tool sales exceeded expectations again in March and by a large margin; this is a great sign for the U.S. economy,” stated AMTDA president Peter Borden. “Not only are customers modernizing to become more efficient and to increase capacity as energy and commodity prices rise, but also supplier price increases and reduced inventories seem to be pulling orders sooner in order to use year end depre-ciation tax advantages.”
The report also tracks U.S. manufacturing technology consumption for five geographic markets. March manufacturing technology consumption in the Northeast region rose 39.9% in March, to $76.41 million from $54.63 million in February. It represented a 112.6% improvement over the Northeast’s March 2010 total.
For the first three months of 2011, the Northeast has totaled consumption of $180.84 million, up 104.3% over the comparable period of 2010.
In the South, March manufacturing technology consumption increased 33.0% over the February’s total, to $45.68 million from $34.35 million. It was 3.1% improvement over March 2010, and brings the Southern region’s year-to-date total of $133.62 million, is up 45.8% over January-March 2010.
March manufacturing technology consumption in the Midwest rose 94.2% in March, to $214.18 mil-lion from $110.29 million in February. It was a 174.8% improvement over March 2010 consumption. The Midwest’s year-to-date total for 2011 is $436.75 million, a 175.1% increase over the comparable period in 2010.
The Central region posted March manufacturing technology consumption of $126.18 million, 28.9% higher than the $97.88 million recorded for February, and 99.7% higher than the March 2010 total. At $333.38 million, the Central region’s 2011 year-to-date consumption total is 136.4% rise over January-March 2010.
In the West, March manufacturing technology consumption rose 79.3% to $48.70 million, from $27.17 million in February. That also represents ap 37.3% increase over March 2010. The January-March 2011 total for the West is $118.97 million, 68.6% more than the consumption figure for the comparable period of 2010.
