July Points to Another Strong Month for Machine Tool Orders

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.