US cutting tool Y/Y consumption down 5.6% in July 2015

McLean, Virginia – July 2015 U.S. cutting tool consumption totaled $177.5 million, according to the U.S. Cutting Tool Institute (USCTI) and AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology. This total, as reported by companies participating in the Cutting Tool Market Report (CTMR) collaboration, was down 6% from June’s total and down 5.6% from July 2014. 

These numbers and all data in this report are based on the totals actually reported by the companies participating in the CTMR program. The totals here represent the majority of the U.S. market for cutting tools.

“Caution is the condition of the month as we note the flat to declining cutting tool market performance. Changing currency values coupled with low oil prices support these conditions, with an outlook for improvements in the fourth quarter,” says Brad Lawton, chairman of AMT’s Cutting Tool Product Group.  

The Cutting Tool Market Report is jointly compiled by AMT and USCTI, two trade associations representing the development, production, and distribution of cutting tool technology and products. It provides a monthly statement on U.S. manufacturers’ consumption of the primary consumable in the manufacturing process – the cutting tool. Analysis of cutting tool consumption is a leading indicator of both upturns and downturns in U.S. manufacturing activity, as it is a true measure of actual production levels. 

Historical data for the Cutting Tool Market Report is available dating back to January 2012. This collaboration of AMT and USCTI is the first step in the two associations working together to promote and support U.S.-based manufacturers of cutting tool technology.

What is the Cutting Tool Market Report?
The Cutting Tool Market Report (CTMR) program measures gross cutting tool shipments each month based on data collected from manufacturers by the United States Cutting Tool Institute (USCTI) and AMT - The Association For Manufacturing Technology. The report provides national U.S consumption data of domestic and imported tools, including domestically produced and imported.

What are cutting tools?
Cutting tools are used in machine tools to shape raw material into parts or remove additional material from existing parts. Examples of cutting tools include drills, countersinks, taps, milling cutters, boring bars, indexable inserts, and many others.

Why is the CTMR important?
Cutting tools are a consumable product used to turn raw materials into intermediate goods and intermediate goods into finished goods. Because tooling needs to be replaced relatively frequently, trends in U.S. cutting tool shipments are a good measure of overall manufacturing activity. Official Census statistics on cutting tools are only published once a year, so the monthly CTMR figures are important to business owners and decision makers who need a more frequent indicator of market conditions. Cutting tools have much shorter lead times than machine tools and other capital equipment, which means sales figures are much less volatile from month to month and react more quickly to changes in manufacturing activity.

Who owns the CTMR?
The report is a joint effort of the United States Cutting Tool Institute (USCTI) and AMT - The Association For Manufacturing Technology. Each organization collects and reports statistics via survey, and the CTMR figures represent a combined total after accounting for overlapping survey contributions.

Source: AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology & The United States Cutting Tool Institute