Business Conditions Report: December 2018
Monday, December 17, 2018
For more information, please contact Christie Carmigiano
CLEVELAND, OH—December 17, 2018—Metalforming companies anticipate little change in business conditions during the next three months, according to the December 2018 Precision Metalforming Association (PMA) Business Conditions Report. Prepared monthly, the report is an economic indicator for manufacturing, sampling 115 metalforming companies in the United States and Canada.
The December report shows that 23% of participants forecast an improvement in economic activity during the next three months (up from 21% in November), 49% expect no change (compared to 51% last month), and 28% predict a decline in activity (the same percentage reported in November).
“The report reflects little change in the concerns of metalforming manufacturers who continue to report higher steel prices and longer lead times because of the Section 232 steel tariffs,” said PMA President Bill Gaskin. “We are also watching the drop in shipping levels and the increase in layoffs reported this month to see if they are a trend resulting from lost business due to the tariffs. The Trump Administration can help U.S. manufacturers compete globally by removing the 232 tariffs as quickly as possible.”
Metalforming companies also expect little change in incoming orders during the next three months, with 27% predicting an increase in orders (down from 29% in November), 49% anticipating no change in orders (compared to 43% in November), and 24% forecasting a decrease in orders (down from 28% last month).
Current average daily shipping levels dropped in December. Twenty-nine percent of participants report that shipping levels are above the levels of three months ago (down from 44% in November), 41% report that levels are the same (compared to 37% the previous month), and 30% report a decrease in shipping levels (up from 19% in November).
The percentage of metalforming companies with a portion of their workforce on short time or layoff increased to 9% in December, up from 6% in November. At this time last year, 5% of companies reported workers on short time or layoff.
The monthly Business Conditions Report has been conducted by PMA since 1979. Full report results are available at http://www.pma.org/public/business_reports/pdf/BCREP.pdf. PMA is the full-service trade association representing the $137-billion metalforming industry of North America—the industry that creates precision metal products using stamping, fabricating, spinning, slide forming and roll forming technologies, and other value-added processes. Its more than 800 member companies also include suppliers of equipment, materials and services to the industry. PMA leads companies toward superior competitiveness and profitability through advocacy, networking, statistics, the PMA Educational Foundation, FABTECH and METALFORM Mexico tradeshows, and MetalForming and 3D Metal Printing magazines.