U.S. cutting tool consumption totaled $149.5 million in February, according to the U.S. Cutting Tool Institute (USCTI) and The Association For Manufacturing Technology (AMT).

That total, as reported by companies participating in the Cutting Tool Market Report collaboration, was up 3.3%  from January’s $144.8 million, but down 17.1% when compared with the $180.3 million reported for February 2020.

The year-to-date total came in at $294.3 million, which marked a 20.2% decline compared to February 2020.

“The recently completed February cutting tool sales statistics continues the trend of slow improvement in our industry,” said Bret Tayne, President of USCTI. “Other sectors of the economy appear to be recovering at a faster pace. Factors such as supply chain challenges, reluctance in a portion of the workforce to return and rising material prices may be causing some drag on the cutting tool industry’s emergence from the COVID downturn.”

“Despite the deep freeze over the central U.S. and the severe supply chain disruption causing some automotive plants to shut down, cutting tool orders showed improvement compared with all but two months since March 2020.”