March 2011 US machine tool growth exceeded expectations

The American Association of Manufacturing Technology (AMT) and the American Machine Tool Distributors Association (AMTDA) recently announced the latest statistics on the consumption of machine tools in the United States. In March 2011, the number of machine tool orders in the United States was 2,576 units, a month-on-month increase of 47.96% and a year-on-year increase of 99.4%; machine tool consumption was $511 million, a month-on-month increase of 57.6% and a year-on-year increase of 99%. In the first quarter, the cumulative consumption of machine tools in the United States was 1.204 billion US dollars, a significant increase of 118.6% year-on-year. From the perspective of product categories, in March 2011, the orders for metal cutting machine tools and metal forming machine tools in the United States were 2,425 and 151 respectively, both of which increased significantly from the previous month. The consumption of metal cutting machine tools was 476 million US dollars, an increase of 59.4% month-on-month and a year-on-year increase of 111%. The consumption of metal forming and manufacturing machine tools was 34.69 million US dollars, an increase of 37% month-on-month and a significant increase of 99% year-on-year. Peter Borden, chairman of AMTDA, pointed out: 'The growth of US machine tool sales in March 2011 exceeded expectations, showing a good signal for the development of the US economy.' In this regard, relevant analysts believe that this reflects the rebound of the industry and the control maintained by the US manufacturing industry. Status, mainly due to the US government's increased support, tax relief for some products, and the depreciation of the dollar also helped companies reduce export costs. More notably, this is the result of many factories that need to buy capital goods currently operating below their capacity, despite the current credit crunch, along with government debt and potential tax increases.