New orders for metal fabrication products declined 1% in the first five months of 2015 compared to the same period a year earlier; shipments rose less than 2%. Some fabricated metal product manufacturers may be seeing reduced orders from key customer groups that are experiencing drops in demand. New orders for machinery dropped nearly 9% in the first five months of 2015; shipments were down nearly 2%. Sharp order declines for nondefense and defense aircraft (25% and 17%, respectively) drove a 4% drop in new orders for transportation equipment. However, motor vehicles and parts remain a bright spot in the transportation equipment sector; motor vehicles and parts new orders and shipments both rose more than 8%.
- US durable goods manufacturers’ shipments of fabricated metal products, an indicator of fabricated metal parts production, rose 0.5 percent year-to-date in August 2015 compared to the same period in 2014.
- According to data from the Interindustry Economic Research Fund, Inc. (IERF), an economic research group, revenue for the US manufacturing sector is forecast to grow at an annual compounded rate of 5% between 2015 and 2019, based on changes in physical volume and unit prices.
- US steel mill product prices, an indicator of commodity steel costs for industrial machinery manufacturers, fell 14.1 percent in August 2015 compared to the same month in 2014.
Posted by Robert Contaldo.
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