Cutting tool consumption declines in September

U.S. cutting tool consumption totaled $195.9 million, according to the U.S. Cutting Tool Institute (USCTI) and The Association for Manufacturing Technology (AMT). This total, as reported by companies participating in the Cutting Tool Market Report collaboration, was down 4.3% from August’s $204.7 million and down 7% when compared with the $210.6 million reported for September 2018. With a year-to-date total of $1.8 billion, 2019 is up 0.2% when compared with 2018. Please note there were revisions to August 2019.

These numbers and all 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.

According to Brad Lawton, chairman of AMT’s Cutting Tool Product Group, “The September numbers focus on the one word that describes our everyday attitudes ‘uncertainty,’ and not having a clue of what to expect from our domestic economy and the global economy. So the further understanding of this issue is ever-present from the media, political wars in Washington, the global trade wars, and the overall effects of these issues on the global economies. The changes are not recessionary, but the changes are concerning.”

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.

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