CLEVELAND, OH—June 19, 2019—Metalforming companies remain concerned about business conditions during the next three months, according the June 2019 Precision Metalforming Association (PMA) Business Conditions Report. Prepared monthly, the report is an economic indicator for manufacturing, sampling 110 metalforming companies in the United States and Canada.

The June report shows little change from the May report in predictions for business conditions. Twenty percent of participants anticipate an improvement in economic activity during the next three months (up from 19% in May), 59% expect no change (compared to 63% last month), and 21% predict a decline in activity (up from 18% in May).

“PMA’s monthly Business Conditions Report reveals that metalforming manufacturers continue to show concern about business activity,” said PMA President David Klotz. “The survey results coincide with the Institute for Supply Management’s latest report showing that U.S. manufacturing activity in May fell to its lowest level in more than two years. That same report confirmed what PMA members have been reporting for several months: U.S. steel-using manufacturers are losing business to overseas competitors who are paying global market prices for steel while the United States continues to be an island of high steel prices due to the steel tariffs. Tariffs are taxes, and taxing manufacturers is not the way to grow manufacturing in this country. It’s time to terminate the Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs.” 

Metalforming companies’ predictions for incoming orders exhibit little change from the previous months, with 53% predicting no change (compared to 49% in May), 25% expecting an increase in orders (down from 27% in May), and 22% forecasting a decrease in orders (down from 24% last month).

Current average daily shipping levels ticked up slightly in June. Thirty-two percent of participants report that shipping levels are above the levels of three months ago (up from 30% in May), 42% report that levels are the same (compared to 39% the previous month), and 26% report a decrease in shipping levels (down from 31% in May).

The percentage of metalforming companies with a portion of their workforce on short time or layoff decreased to 6% in June, down from 9% in May. At this time last year, 4% of the participating 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 https://www.pma.org/public/business_reports/images/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 nearly 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.