In 2017 and 2018, the World Machine Tool Survey from Gardner Intelligence, the research arm of Modern Machine Shop publisher Gardner Business Media, showed that 12 out of the top 15 machine tool consuming countries increased their consumption. It is relatively rare for this to happen in a single year, and this was the only time it had ever happened in back-to-back years. This worldwide upturn and the extremely cyclical nature of the machine tool market should have been a clue to the fate of machine tool consumption in 2019, which was a worldwide downturn.

According to the latest survey, the results of which have recently been published, global machine tool consumption decreased by $13.1 billion, or 13.8%, to $82.1 billion in 2019. Therefore, 2019 had the lowest level of machine tool consumption since 2010, when much of the global economy was just starting to recover from the Great Recession. And, in an about-face of 2018, 12 out of the top 15 consuming countries decreased their machine tool consumption in 2019.

You can access the full report and data here.

According to the 2019 World Machine Tool Survey, global machine tool consumption decreased to the lowest level since 2010, when much of the global economy was just starting to recover from the Great Recession. Global machine tool production followed a similar pattern, falling to its lowest level since 2010.