U.S. Orders for Machine Tools Rise 32.6%

Machine tool orders by U.S. manufacturers rose 32.6% in December compared with a year earlier, and orders for 1997 were 24% higher than in 1996, continuing a five-year boom, two trade groups reported. Domestic orders were an estimated $787.43 million in December, and about $8.6 billion in all of 1997, the American Machine Tool Distributors’ Assn. and the Assn. for Manufacturing Technology said in a report to be released today. While domestic orders have surged, export data in the report showed that foreign demand for U.S. machine tools plunged in December. Orders fell 47.3% from December 1996, to $39.12 million, the study showed. For the full year, however, export orders rose 15.2%, to $644.45 million.