U.S. metalworking machinery orders stayed strong in the first quarter of 2026 despite tariff uncertainty and the outbreak of war with Iran, according to The Association For Manufacturing Technology (AMT).
March orders reached $681.3 million, up 40.3% from February and 31.5% year-on-year, while total Q1 orders rose 27.8% to $1.61 billion. Manufacturers continued investing in machinery and automation to meet resilient consumer demand and address persistent labour shortages.
Sector performance was mixed: contract machine shops grew more slowly than the wider market, aerospace orders dipped slightly from February but remained elevated due to aircraft backlogs and increased military production, and engine and turbine manufacturers sharply increased investment amid rising electricity demand from data centres. AMT expects overall machinery orders in 2026 to be similar to 2025 levels, but states that strong cutting tool demand and growing backlogs could lead to stronger manufacturing activity later in the year.
Regionally, five areas had orders higher in March 2026 than in March 2025; this growth was led by the West (+93%) and North-East (+38%), with South-East (+29%) and North-Central-West (+21%) also growing strongly, while South-Central saw only modest growth (+6%). North-Central-East (-5%) was the only area that saw negative growth.
The U.S. Cutting Tool Market Report (CTMR) tracks shipments for tooling on a similar basis to the machine tool report. U.S. cutting tool shipments totalled $259.3 million in March 2026, up 15.2% from February and 24.6% year-on-year. Year-to-date shipments reached $705.1 million, a 15.9% increase from the same period in 2025, with unit shipments rising for a second consecutive month and accelerating in March. You can download the press releases for the two surveys from the AMT web-site at https://www.amtonline.org/topic/intelligence, with the CTMR release also published on the USCTI web-site at www.uscti.com (go to the News tab); alternatively, you can request either or both releases from MTA and we can make sure you get them when they are published each month. We have attached a set of charts tracking the rolling 12-month totals from these two surveys which you can download below.