U.S. Cutting Tool Orders Remain Soft

The July 2019 U.S. cutting tool consumption totaled $198.4 million according to the U.S. Cutting Tool Institute (USCTI) 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 0.6 percent from June’s $199.7 million and down 1.3 percent when compared with the $201.0 million reported for July 2018. With a year-to-date total of $1.5 billion, 2019 is up 2.6 percent when compared with 2018.

“As expected based on trends in the Gardner Business Index, cutting tool orders continued to contract on a month-over-month basis in July. Year-over-year, cutting tool orders will likely start contracting in the fourth quarter of 2019. However, the likely contraction does not appear to be anything out of the ordinary for the industry. My current expectation is that the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS; Chicago, IL) as it typically does, will mark the bottom of this downturn and orders will improve from there,” said Steve Kline Jr., the chief data officer at Gardner.

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