WASHINGTON, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Demand for the machine tools that shape metal for products such as car engines and refrigerators fell in December from November and also from a year earlier, two groups said in a joint report on Sunday.
U.S. December machine tool demand fell 2.2 percent to $194.01 million from $198.35 million in November, the American Machine Tool Distributors' Association (AMTDA) and the Association for Manufacturing Technology (AMT) said in a joint report.
December demand plunged 53.8 percent from $419.80 million a year earlier in December 2007.
November demand was revised upward, initially estimated at $185.57 million.
In 2008, demand for machine tools, which gives a sense of the pace of manufacturing, stood at $4.212 billion, down 2.4 percent from $4.315 billion in 2007.
"The declines in November and December clearly reflect the impact of financial upheaval this past fall on our industry," AMT President Robert Simpson said in a statement.
"The administration has to get the manufacturing sector on the top of its agenda as manufacturing creates the wealth we need to balance our global debt," Simpson added.
December demand for machine tools rose, from a month earlier, in all regions included in the report except the Midwest, which typically is the region with the most orders for machine tools.
The data showed demand jumped 40.2 percent in the West, 30.4 percent in the Northeast, 9.1 percent in the South and 4.7 percent in the Central region. It dropped 38.2 percent in the Midwest.http://uk.reuters.com/article/marketsNewsUS/idUKN0845462220090208
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