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Metal forming companies expect business conditions to remain steady during the next three months

According to the April 2010 Precision Metalforming Association (PMA) Business Conditions Report, metal forming companies expect business conditions to remain steady during the next three months. Conducted monthly, the report is an economic indicator for manufacturing, sampling 142 metal forming companies in the United States and Canada.

The April report shows that 45 percent of participants expect an improvement in economic activity during the next three months (up from 43 percent in March), 45 percent predict that activity will remain unchanged (down from 52 percent last month) and 10 percent report that activity will decline (up from 5 percent in March).

Metal forming companies also forecast continued positive momentum in incoming orders, with little change in orders during the next three months. Increased orders are anticipated by 50 percent (compared to 48 percent in March), 37 percent expect no change (compared to 42 percent the previous month) and 13 percent predict a decrease in orders (up from 10 percent in March).

The percent of members experiencing higher average daily shipping levels rose in April for the third straight month. Sixty-one percent of participants report that shipping levels are above levels of three months ago (up from 54 percent in March), 29 percent report no change (compared to 36 percent in March) and 10 percent report that shipping levels are below levels of three months ago (the same percentage reported last month).

The percentage of metal forming companies with a portion of their workforce on short time or layoff remained unchanged from March to April, at 42 percent.

"The positive and stable outlook reflected in PMA's April Business Conditions Report indicates that the sharp increases in orders and shipments reported by members in our separate Monthly Orders and Shipments Report should continue through the second quarter," said William E. Gaskin, PMA president. "Based on a control group of 100 metal forming companies, the average increase in orders is up approximately 50 percent, and shipments are up by approximately 30 percent in the first quarter of 2010 compared to year-ago levels. While orders and shipments are not yet approaching levels of 2008, business conditions have improved and likely will continue to improve for the next three months.”