Cutting Tool Orders Grow for First Time Since September 2019

According to the Cutting Tool Management Report (CTMR) for April 2021 from the Association For Manufacturing Technology (AMT), real cutting tool orders were $170.0 million, which was an increase of 22.3% compared with one year ago. April was the first month-over-month increase since September 2019. While orders in April 2021 had an easy comparison with April 2020 due to the economic lockdown, April 2021 was the second consecutive month with cutting tool orders of more than $170 million. While this was still more than 10% below the average month since the beginning of 2012, an order total of $170 million was significantly more than any month since April 2020. The annual rate of change in April, -23.3%, contracted at a decelerating rate for the second month in a row.

The GBI: Metalworking is a good leading indicator of cutting tool orders and leads cutting tool orders by seven to 10 months. In May, the index was above 50 for the eighth month in a row and the month-over-month rate of change in the index grew for the 10^th consecutive month. The annual rate of change grew at an accelerating rate for the third consecutive month, indicating that the annual rate of contraction in cutting tool orders has bottomed and cutting tool orders should be increasing throughout 2021.