Orders for Machine Tools Rise in February

Orders for machine tools rose in February, a trade association said Sunday, adding to evidence that the nation’s economy is showing some faint signs of recovery.

The Assn. for Manufacturing Technology said orders rose 6.4% last month to $231.4 million from January levels but were still down 5.6% from a year earlier.

Shipments during February soared, rising 27.2% to $203.2 million in the month. Orders had fallen 36.7% in the prior month while shipments plummeted 43.4%.

“Domestic orders are off to a good start,” said Albert Moore, AMT president, although the trade group did express concern about exports despite a 134.2% jump in February.

In comparison to last year, exports were down 61.5%, the group said.

“With the outlook for our major export markets uncertain, foreign orders are down,” Moore said.

There is growing concern that as the economy struggles out of recession, exports will be hit hard since many markets overseas are still experiencing slow going.

“I think that global growth has been slowing,” said William Copeland of Copeland Economics Group Inc. in Stamford, Conn., “and machine orders are one place that this will show up.”

Machine tools are used to cut and form metal parts in a huge number of manufactured goods ranging from refrigerators and cookware to aircraft and autos.

Copeland said some of the increase in orders might be accounted for by the auto industry as it attempts to catch up with the technology used in Japanese plants.

The machine tool order backlog in February was $1.52 billion, up from $1.49 billion a month earlier. A year earlier, it stood at $1.53 billion.