September 2024 U.S. cutting tool consumption totaled $188.7 million, according to the latest Cutting Tool Market Report (CTMR) published by the U.S. Cutting Tool Institute and the Association for Manufacturing Technology (AMT).

That total was down 10% from August and down 6.3% from September 2023. Year-to-date shipments totaled $1.86 billion, representing a 0.7% increase from shipments made in the first nine months of 2024.

“Despite the success and positive energy from IMTS for most exhibitors in Chicago, tooling continues to track at a slower pace,” AMT Cutting Tool Product Group Chairman Jack Burley said in the group’s Nov. 21 news release. “Staying consistent with the latest Purchasing Manager’s Index of less than 50, cutting tool consumption is still quite flat, indicating most shops are not running at full capacity. Inflation, interest rates, raw material costs, and pre-election uncertainty put many projects on hold. I do not think we will see any significant improvements until after the first quarter of 2025, when spindle utilization is expected to increase.”

“September shipments were hurt by the machinists union strike at Boeing, eating into one of the largest sources of recent cutting tool demand,” U.S. Industries at Oxford Economics Director Mark Killion added. “In addition, typical seasonal weakness was compounded by retrenchment in output of other customer sectors, such as business equipment, materials, and supplies for construction.”

The CTMR 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 what they tout as the primary consumable in the manufacturing process — the cutting tool.

The graph below includes the 12-month moving average for the durable goods shipments and cutting tool orders. These values are calculated by taking the average of the most recent 12 months and plotting them over time. Click on the chart for a larger version.