U.S., Canadian motion control sales up

U.S. and Canadian manufacturers’ sales increased for the third consecutive month in March, with U.S. manufacturers posting an increase of 5.6 percent and Canadian manufacturers’ sales rising by 18.5 percent according to sales data released by the Power Transmission Distributors Association (PTDA) in its Market Outlook Report. 

For U.S. manufacturers, sales comparisons between the first quarter of 2010 and 2009 still reflect sales declines.  U.S. manufacturers’ year-to-date sales are down 3.4 percent compared to sales at this time last year. Canadian manufacturers’ year-to-year sales rose by 7.7 percent for the same period.

For the third month, U.S. manufacturers’ confidence maintained a neutral position of 5.0 on a scale of 1 (very pessimistic) to 10 (outstanding). Canadian manufacturers’ maintained the position of 4.8. 

For Canadian manufacturers, month-to-month sales in specific product categories between February 2010 and March 2010 saw a 103.3 percent rise in variable speed drive sales followed by an 89.5 percent increase in shaft couplings. Gear products (39.6%), unmounted bearings (13.1%), Mechanical drive systems (8.8%) and mounted bearings (7.9%) also showed positive gains. Only clutches and brakes (-14.7%) and linear motion products (-32.1%) showed sales declines.
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