January U.S. cutting tool consumption totaled $181.9 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 (CTMR) collaboration, was down 1.7% from December’s total and up 1.9% from January 2014.

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 about 80 percent of the U.S. market for cutting tools.

“The industrial production index for manufacturing typically leads cutting tool production by one or two months. January’s 1.7% decrease in shipments mirrors December’s decline in industrial production,” said Pat McGibbon, Vice President of AMT’s Strategic Analytics department. “The short lived fall reflected by January’s increase in industrial production leaves us optimistic to see positive cutting tool shipment growth in February and March.”

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.