MoreROCKVILLE, Md. - Machine tool consumption in January for the United States totaled $217.03 million, up 20.8 percent from the same month in 2004, according to the American Machine Tool Distributors' Association and the Association For Manufacturing Technology. The January 2004 total was also up 29.1 percent from the previous month.
"Keeping pace with December was not going to be easy due to the end of bonus depreciation," said Ralph J. Nappi, AMTDA president. "Yet we start the year 20 percent ahead compared with January 2004, which is evident that manufacturing still recognizes the benefits of investing in new capital equipment."
Broken down by region, the Northeast stood at $26.33 million, 40.7 percent less than December's $44.4 million, but up 13.9 percent ahead of January 2004.
At $42.92 million, Southern region machine tool consumption in January was off 20.6 percent from December's $54.05 million, but 63.9 percent higher than the total for January a year ago.
Midwest machine tool consumption totaled $74.51 million, down 35.5 percent when compared to December's $52.29 million, but up 50.1 percent compared to January a year ago.
At $29.84 million, the West's machine tool consumption was down 24.9 percent compared to December's $39.71 million, but up 11.7 percent compared to January 2004.
