US cutting tool orders reach $198.6M, down 0.7% from January

Shipments of cutting tools, measured by the Cutting Tool Market Report compiled in a collaboration between AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology and the U.S. Cutting Tool Institute (USCTI), totaled $198.6 million in February 2025. 

Orders decreased 0.7% from January 2025 and were down 9.2% from February 2024. Year-to-date shipments totaled $398.4 million, a drop of 6.7% from the same period in 2024.

“Orders for cutting tools in the United States continue to lag behind the numbers posted in 2024,” said Steve Boyer, president of USCTI. “Significant declines in year-over-year totals suggest a lack of confidence in current markets. While we have gained some clarity in our country’s leadership, the policies – specifically the full impact of imposed tariffs – cannot yet be gauged. I believe any optimism we may have had entering 2025 will be delayed until we learn more about the tariffs and their effects on the major markets we serve.”

Tom Haag, president of Kyocera SGS Precision Tool, said: “The calendar year has not kicked off well, considering the reported numbers through February, and we expect March numbers to reflect a further decline, as the tariff war has dented the confidence of manufacturing businesses around the world. The United States started this year by recovering manufacturing activity in January and February, which typically would have required the fulfillment of the supply chain pipeline. Instead, tariff speculation has caused the opposite effect, where demand is suffering due to economic uncertainty.”

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.