Metal forming companies expect business conditions to remain virtually unchanged during next three months

According to the March 2010 Precision Metalforming Association (PMA) Business Conditions Report, metal forming companies expect business conditions to remain virtually unchanged from the February report, with expectations that orders and shipments will continue to rise or at least remain constant 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 March report shows that 43 percent of participants expect an improvement in economic activity during the next three months (down from 45 percent in February), 52 percent predict that activity will remain unchanged (up from 49 percent last month) and only 5 percent report that activity will decline (down from 6 percent in February).

Metal forming companies also forecast fairly steady incoming orders during the next three months. Increased orders are anticipated by 48 percent (compared to 54 percent in February), 42 percent expect no change (compared to 32 percent the previous month) and 10 percent predict a decrease in orders (down from 14 percent in February)

Current average daily shipping levels rose slightly in March. Fifty-four percent of participants reported that shipping levels are above levels of three months ago (up from 51 percent in February), 36 percent reported no change (compared to 34 percent in February) and 10 percent reported that shipping levels are below levels of three months ago (down from 15 percent in February).

The number of metal forming companies with a portion of their workforce on short time or layoff continued to trend downward, with 42 percent reporting workers on short time or layoff in March, compared to 47 percent in February.

"Metal forming companies continue to expect improvement in their orders and shipments for the next three months," said William E. Gaskin, PMA president. "PMA's manufacturing members are experiencing 20-30 percent increases in orders and shipments compared to year-ago levels, when shipping levels were declining precipitously in Q-1 and Q-2 of 2009. Metal forming companies remain cautious about the mid- and long-term outlook, but in the near term, business continues to improve," he continued.