U.S. and Canadian manufacturers posted a slight increase in sales in October 2009, according to sales data released by the Power Transmission Distributors Association (PTDA) in its Market Outlook Report. U.S. manufacturers’ sales rose 0.6% over September 2009 sales. The increase was a slower rate than experienced in the previous two months but still reflects positive movement. Canadian manufacturers’ sales rose 0.8% over September 2009, the second month of growth.
Year-to-date sales figures comparisons between October 2009 and October 2008 still reflect sales declines. U.S. manufacturers’ year-to-date sales are down 28.2% compared to sales at this time last year; Canadian manufacturers’ year-to-year sales are off 27.2%.
Confidence in the U.S. market has stalled at 4.7 (as measured on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being most optimistic) for four consecutive months. Canadian manufacturers’ confidence experienced a huge spike in October 2009, jumping to a neutral position of 5.0, the best ranking of the index since July 2008.
Month-to-month sales for nine product categories between September 2009 and October 2009 for U.S. and Canadian manufacturers are reported below.
U.S. Manufacturer% Change in Product Sales
(September 2009 vs. October 2009)
|
Product
|
Percent Change
|
|
Clutches & Brakes
|
-8.0%
|
|
Standard Industrial Motors
|
-6.1%
|
|
Gear Products
|
-2.7%
|
|
Mounted Bearings
|
1.0%
|
|
Mechanical Drive Systems and Other PT Products
|
1.2%
|
|
Positioning Systems/Linear Motion Products
|
1.4%
|
|
Shaft Couplings
|
1.8%
|
|
Unmounted Bearings
|
5.7%
|
|
Variable Speed Drives
|
21.2%
|
Canadian Manufacturer% Change in Product Sales
(September 2009 vs. October 2009)
|
Product
|
Percent Change
|
|
Shaft Couplings
|
-32.1%
|
|
Positioning Systems/Linear Motion Products
|
-7.0%
|
|
Unmounted Bearings
|
-5.8%
|
|
Mechanical Drive Systems and Other PT Products
|
-4.0%
|
|
Mounted Bearings
|
-2.3%
|
|
Variable Speed Drives
|
13.7%
|
|
Gear Products
|
20.8%
|
|
Clutches & Brakes
|
25.2%
|
|
Standard Industrial Motors
|
38.7%
|
The Market Outlook Report is published monthly by the Power Transmission Distributors Association. The full report includes U.S. and Canadian manufacturer data for sales and order trends for mounted bearings, unmounted bearings, standard industrial motors, variable speed drives, positioning systems/linear motion products, gear products, clutches and brakes, shaft couplings and mechanical drive systems and other PT products.
Year-end data for 2007 and 2008 is available in a complete report. For more information, visit www.ptda.org.
