Data published by AMT shows that orders for machine tools in the first three months of 2025 (effectively the 1st quarter) were +1.4% higher than in the same months of 2024 (January to March inclusive). On the same basis, demand for cutting tools fell by -5.9%. Respondents to the survey in this period valued machine tool orders at $1256 million with the cutting tool business at $606 million.
The US Manufacturing Technology Orders (USMTO) programme tracks orders in the US market, based on the reports from participants in the survey. March 2025 had an excellent result with the highest monthly total of machine tool orders since March 2023, just ahead of the December 2024 value. The 12-month rolling total – effectively an annualised figure – also improved and was at its highest since January 2024.
Regionally, 4 areas had orders higher than in the first three months of 2024; this growth was led by the West (+50%), with strong growth also recorded in the North-East (+18%) and South-Central (+17%) regions but the North-Central-East area had more modest growth (+4%). This leaves only the South-East (-5%) and North-Central-West (-2%) areas in negative territory.
The US Cutting Tool Market Report (CTMR) tracks shipments (although the report also talks about orders, so it is not clear which is being used) for tooling on a similar basis to the machine tool survey. This part of the market continues on its downward trend with business down by -5.9% compared to the 1st quarter of 2024. This was despite March being the best month since last October.
Although the period in this report was entirely before the “Liberation Day” announcements (2nd April, with the partial reversal a week later on the 9th), the CTMR bulletin suggests that US tooling companies are either dealing with increased tariffs on imported items or struggling with rising raw material costs for domestic manufacturers. 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.