U.S. Cutting Tool Orders Soften

June 2019 U.S. cutting tool consumption totaled $198.9 million according to the United States Cutting Tool Institute (USCTI; Cleveland, OH) and AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology (McLean, VA). This total, as reported by companies participating in the Cutting Tool Market Report collaboration, was down 6.8 percent from May’s $213.4 million and down 6.3 percent when compared with the $212.4 million reported for June 2018. With a year-to-date total of $1.25 billion, however, 2019 remains up 3.2 percent when compared with 2018. These numbers, along with all other data in this report, are based on the totals reported by the companies participating in the CTMR program. The totals here represent the majority of the U.S. market for cutting tools.

“With over a six percent drop in volume from both May’s report and June 2018 report, we are starting to see the market soften. While some of the softening is due to seasonality, the balance of the decrease reflects the European economies that have been slowing for a few months, while the U.S. economy shows signs of slowing slightly. These two factors combined with the overhanging cloud of potential trade wars may keep pressuring the market through the end of 2019. It is important to note that YTD 2019 remains 3.2 percent higher than YTD 2018, which supports the overall market strength in the first half of 2019,” explained Phil Kurtz, the president of USCTI.

“After a great start into 2019, it looks like cutting tools are on a downward trend that follows the lead of metal cutting machine tool orders,” noted Chris Kaiser, the president and chief executive officer of BIG KAISER Precision Tooling, Inc. (Hoffman Estates, IL). “It’s not necessarily a surprising development, since several industry segments and markets, like oil and gas, aerospace and the automotive sector are struggling at the moment. This all seems
congruent with developments in certain European countries too, like Germany. The trend for us seemed to improve going into July. I imagine we’ll go through some roller-coaster months going forward for the next 12 months. This development reminds us a little of the 2015/16 time frame.”

www.uscti.com, www.amtonline.org