April Machine Tool Orders Best April Since 1998

According to the United States Machine Tool Orders (USMTO) report published by the Association For Manufacturing Technology (AMT, McLean, Virginia), April machine tool orders were 2,282 units and $399,049,000.

Unit orders in April increased 55.6% compared with one year ago, marking the seventh month of growth in the last eight months. April’s month-over-month rate of growth was the fastest since May 2011. Of course, this fast growth rate, which was comparable to an IMTS month, was, in large part, due to an easy comparison with April 2020. On the other hand, this was the most units ordered in April since April 1998. Therefore, April 2021 was an extremely strong month for machine tool orders. As a result, the annual rate of growth at an accelerating rate for the second straight month grew to 7.5%, which was the fastest rate of growth since February 2019.

In April, real dollar orders increased 69.4%. This was the fastest rate of growth since August 2011. In real dollar terms, this was the best April since April 2018. So, while dollar orders are in a strong recovery, the level of dollar orders is not nearly as impressive as the level of unit orders. The annual rate of change in dollar orders grew 2.0% in April, which was the first month of annual growth since June 2019. 

Month-over-month rates of change differed wildly among the six regions. February orders were dominated by the North-Central West and East regions.

Compared with one year ago, the GBI: Metalworking was 52.5% higher, which was the 10^th consecutive month of growth and the third consecutive month with growth faster than 50%. The annual rate of change in the GBI grew 15.1% in May, which was the third straight month of accelerating growth. It is clear that the annual rate of change in machine tool orders has already bottomed ahead of schedule.