Orders for machine tools rose nearly 39 percent in June from the month before, aided by a strong increase in orders from the South, an industry survey said.
Orders from U.S. companies for domestic and foreign-produced machine tools climbed to an estimated $894 million in June from a revised $644 million in May, said a joint report from the Association for Manufacturing Technology and the American Machine Tool Distributors’ Association.
June’s gain, the fourth increase in the last five months, brought the total orders in the first half up nearly 20 percent, to $4.4 billion. Although orders from the South accounted for the bulk of June’s increase, orders also rose in the Northeast, Midwest and Central regions, declining only in the West.
“Consumer and export demands for manufactured goods continue growing at double-digit rates,” said Albert W. Moore, AMT president. That means orders for machine tools will be strong “until manufacturers can bring production capacity in line with the demand for their products,” Moore said.
Right now, “manufacturers cannot keep pace with this growth using the same machines their fathers operated,” he said.
Initially, the industry groups reported that estimated orders fell 16 percent in May, to $678 million. Orders totaled an estimated $811 million in April.
Compared with June 1996, estimated orders for machine tools– which are used to shape and assemble metal in products ranging from diesel engines to dishwashers–rose sharply, from $493 million.
Actual machine tool orders rose 38.9 percent in June to $644.80 million from a revised $464.36 million in May, the industry groups said.
June machine tool actual orders soared 161 percent in the South, which accounts for about a quarter of the industry’s sales. Orders rose 40.3 percent in the Northeast and 24 percent in the Midwest. In the Central region, orders climbed 17 percent, and they fell 2.4 percent in the West.
Exports of machine tools by U.S. manufacturers, which are counted separately from domestic orders, declined just over 5 percent, to $43.21 million in June from $45.60 million the previous month.
