July U.S. cutting tool consumption totaled $147 million, according to the U.S. Cutting Tool Institute and AMT – the Association for Manufacturing Technology. This total, as reported by companies participating in the Cutting Tool Market Report collaboration, was down 16.2 percent from June's total and down 17.2 percent from July 2015.

With a year-to-date total of $1.2 billion, 2016 is down 9.9 percent when compared with 2015.

These numbers and all data in this report are based on the totals actually reported by the companies participating in the CTMR program. The totals here represent the majority of the U.S. market for cutting tools.

“Cutting tool demand took a sharp downturn in July even adjusted for seasonality," says Eli Lustgarten, senior vice president at Longbow Securities. "Demand has fallen for 15 months in a row with the latest weakness likely driven by the sluggish first half of 2016’s economic growth and the recent surprise contraction of the ISM Purchasing Managers Index (PMI)."

"We are also hearing of more inventory reduction to align stock levels with current weak demand that is expected to remain lower for longer," he says. "Expect more of the same for the remainder of 2016 with some moderation of the decline because of much easier comps starting in September.”