December 2024 U.S. cutting tool consumption totaled $179.5 million according to the latest Cutting Tool Market Report (CTMR) published by the U.S. Cutting Tool Institute (USCTI) and the Association for Manufacturing Technology (AMT).

That total was down 2% from November 2024, and down 4.3% from December 2023. Year-to-date shipments totaled $2.4 billion, representing a 0.6% decrease from shipments made in 2023.

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“Our industry continued to feel the effects of a stagnated aerospace market as we ended 2024, and this sets us up for a rather uneven first and second quarter,” USCTI President Steve Boyer said in a Feb. 13 news release. “Cutting tool markets still tended to perform better than other markets through the end of 2024 and start of 2025 but have noticeably softened. Adjusted lower outlooks for this year in the transportation, automotive, aerospace, and defense sectors will project a slower rebound.”

Cutting Tool Engineering Editor-at-Large Alan Richter added: “With economic and market uncertainties, such as tariffs, supply chains and inflation, coupled with ongoing and new geopolitical tensions swirling with the election of a new U.S. presidential administration, manufacturers that use cutting tools continued to decrease their tool consumption in December, albeit at a slower rate than November. However, more encouraging reasons for the slide include toolmakers developing cutters that last longer while running at higher machining parameters, productivity gains with automation and AI, and increased efficiency from implementing advanced or ‘smart,’ technologies.”

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The CTMR 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 what they tout as the primary consumable in the manufacturing process — the cutting tool.

The graph below includes the 12-month moving average for the durable goods shipments and cutting tool orders. These values are calculated by taking the average of the most recent 12 months and plotting them over time. Click on the chart for a larger version.