U.S. manufacturing technology consumption totaled $219.60 million, according to AMT -- The Association For Manufacturing Technology, and AMTDA, the American Machine Tool Distributors' Association.
This total was up 22.9% from November but down 5.7% from the total of $232.93 million reported for December 2008. With a year-to-date total of $1,771.91 million, 2009 is down 60.4% compared with 2008.
"The bump in November and December orders reflects the expiration of investment incentives at the end of 2009," said Douglas K. Woods, AMT President. "AMT and 40 other industry groups have sent Congress and the President a letter urging them to reinstate the Recovery Act's depreciation bonus and increased Sec. 179 expensing provisions. Foreign tax structures encourage capital equipment investment and our government needs to meet the competition if U.S. manufacturing is to generate jobs and be the innovation engine to drive our economy."
From a regional perspective the Northeast region's consumption rose to $43.92 million, up 31.8% when compared with November's $33.32 million but down 15.4% when compared with December 2008.
The Southern region totaled $29.49 million, up 7.3% when compared with the $27.48 million total for November but off 18.2% compared to December a year ago.
Totaling $62.22 million, the Midwest region's manufacturing technology consumption in December rose 27.1% above November's $48.94 million and was 14.1% higher than the total for December 2008.
The Central region, with a total of $54.74 million, was 10.7% higher than November's $49.46 million but off 3.1% when compared with December a year ago.
And the Western region's total was $29.22 million, up 50.4% from November's $19.43 million but down 13.8% when compared with December a year ago.
