Rockville, MD — Machine tool consumption for the first half of the year was down more than 25 percent, according to the most recent U.S. Machine Tool Consumption Report.

In June, U.S. machine tool consumption was down 7.2 percent from May and down 28.5 percent compared to June 2000. With a year-to-date total of $1.5 million, consumption for 2001 was down 26.7 percent compared to the same period in 2000.

The U.S. Machine Tool Consumption report is jointly compiled by the American Machine Tool Distributors' Assn. and AMT — The Association for Manufacturing Technology.

"The general production malaise within the manufacturing sector continues to wreak havoc on machine tool orders," said Ralph J. Nappi, AMTDA president. "Future manufacturing investment will depend on how quickly our economy will react to the fiscal and monetary policies currently being implemented by the government."

Machine tool consumption in the Northeast was off 23.7 percent for the year in June, while the South was down 32.9 percent. In the Midwest, year-to-date machine tool consumption was down 31.9 percent in June, while the Central region was off just 4.1 percent. In the West, year-to-date consumption was down 36.6 percent.