U.S. Manufacturing Technology Orders totaled $437.85 million in March, an increase of 41.6% from the same month a year ago, according to the U.S. Manufacturing Technology Orders report published Monday by AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology.

Total orders to date for 2021 reached $1.1 billion, almost one-third above the total orders in the first quarter of last year. New orders placed in March also marked a 16.1% increase from the previous month of February.

“It is noteworthy that total orders in the first quarter were significantly higher than total orders in Q1 2020, given the strength of the first three months of 2020, when the pandemic had not yet affected the industry,” said Douglas K. Woods, president of AMT. “And while these are certainly impressive numbers, they should have been even higher when looking at Oxford Economics’ prediction that U.S. GDP could have been 9.2% had inventories been at their normal levels versus the 6.4% actually achieved for Q1 2021. The good news is they predict that Q2 2021 growth will likely be upwards of 12%.”

“Drilling into sectors, agricultural, construction, and mining machinery orders more than doubled from last month; and recreational equipment, including boats, motorcycles, snow mobiles, and ATVs, were all very strong. Two notable industries which saw declines over February 2021 were automotive and aerospace, two sectors which typically drive manufacturing growth, highlighting just how strong orders from other sectors were in March.”