U.S. cutting tool consumption totaled $160.7 million, according to the U.S. Cutting Tool Institute (USCTI) and AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology. This total, as reported by companies participating in the Cutting Tool Market Report collaboration, was down 5.5 percent from April's $170 million and up 24.6 percent when compared with the $129 million reported for May 2020. With a year-to-date total of $802.6 million, 2021 is down 1.5 percent when compared to May 2020.

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

According to Brad Lawton, Chairman of AMT’s Cutting Tool Product Group, “The cutting tool industry hope, not strategy, in March was that sales volume would continue to move toward pre-pandemic values. Industry sales slowed month over month in May because of supply chain issues after sales were up in March significantly due to quarterly restocking by distributors.

“Despite these conditions, the cutting tool industry remains poised to respond to U.S. manufacturing customers.”

Alan Richter, editor-at-large of Cutting Tool Engineering, commented, “The cutting tool industry is not out of the woods yet. The U.S. consumption of cutting tools for May 2021, which was the fourth-highest total since April 2020 and up 24.6 percent year to year, shows the industry is nearing pre-pandemic levels. Part manufacturers continue to confront the seemingly never-ending skills gap, but companies are overcoming that challenge with intelligent integration of automation equipment.”

The Cutting Tool Market Report 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 the primary consumable in the manufacturing process – the cutting tool. Analysis of cutting tool consumption is a leading indicator of both upturns and downturns in U.S. manufacturing activity, as it is a true measure of actual production levels.