July Another Strong Month for Machine Tool Orders

Looking for more metalworking industry insights? Head to our sister site, Gardner Business Intelligence, where this article originally appeared.

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According to the United States Machine Tool Orders (USMTO) report published by the Association For Manufacturing Technology (AMT), July machine tool orders were 2,258 units and $464,898,000.

Unit orders in July increased 26.4% compared with one year ago, which was close to the same rate of month-over-month growth in June. July was the fifth month in a row with unit orders of more than 2,000 (2,000 machines ordered is a benchmark for a good month historically). July was the 10th month of growth in the last 11 months. As a result, the annual rate of change grew at an accelerating rate for the fifth straight month to 19.8%, which was the fastest rate of growth since April 2012.

In July, real dollar orders increased 32.7%. While this was the slowest rate of month-over-month growth since February, dollar orders grew faster than units for the fourth month in a row. As a result, the average price of a machine was $206,000 in July, which was the first month above $200,000 since October 2019 and the highest since September 2018. The annual rate of change in dollar orders grew 19.5% in July, which was the fourth straight month of accelerating annual growth and the fastest growth since September 2018. 

Compared with one year ago, the GBI: Metalworking was 23.5% higher, which was the 13^th consecutive month of growth. The annual rate of change in the GBI grew 26.0% in August, which was the sixth straight month of accelerating growth. The strong growth in the metalworking industry should lead to accelerating growth in machine tool orders throughout 2021.