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168 MMS April 2017 mmsonline.com GARDNER BUSINESS INDEX Metalworking February 2017 – 56.0 STEVEN R. KLINE, JR. DIRECTOR OF MARKET INTELLIGENCE GARDNER BUSINESS MEDIA INC. Visit Steven's blog at gardnerweb.com/ economics/blog or email him at skline2@gardnerweb.com. Expansion continues; metalworking industry hits its highest point in five years. continued to lengthen at a slightly accelerating rate. Material prices increased at a similar rate to January. In each of the first two months of the year, material prices increased at their fastest rate since February 2012. Prices received also increased at a rapidly accelerating rate for the third straight month and at their fastest rate since March 2012. Future business expectations continued to climb above 80 for the second month in a row, although their rate of increase has slowed. Primar y metals grew for the fifth time in six months and at their fastest rate since September 2014. This is a positive sign, since all metalworking manufacturers need metal to cut. Pumps/valves/plumb- ing products grew for the first time since October 2016, and machin- e r y/e quipme nt grew at a ve r y strong rate for the third time in four months. Metalcut ting job shops grew at their fastest rate since the sur vey expanded to cover individual industries in 2011. The North Central-West was the fastest growing U.S. region, expanding at an accelerating rate for the third straight month. It was closely followed by the Southeast, which grew for the seventh month in a row. The North Central-East, South Central and Northeast also grew at strong rates, and the West grew for the second time in four months and at its fastest rate since May 2015. Shops of all sizes expanded again in February. Those with more than 250 employees grew for the fifth month in a row; facilities with 100-249 workers expanded at their fastest rate since the survey began in December 2011; companies with 50-99 grew for the sixth time in seven months; shops with 20-49 grew for the fourth time in five months; and those with fewer than 20 employees expanded for second month in a row. W ith a reading of 56.0, the Gardner Business Index showed that the metalworking indus- try grew at a rapidly accelerating rate in February for the second month in a row, reaching its high- est point since March 2012. New orders increased for the fourth straight month and at their fastest rate since March 2014. The same was true for the production subindex. 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 Jan-07 Jul-07 Jan-08 Jul-08 Jan-09 Jul-09 Jan-10 Jul-10 Jan-11 Jul-11 Jan-12 Jul-12 Jan-13 Jul-13 Jan-14 Jul-14 Jan-15 Jul-15 Jan-16 Jul-16 Jan-17 Jul-17 Metalworking Business Index Backlogs increased for the first time in nearly three years, shooting up to their highest level since March 2012. This indicates capacity utilization should increase in 2017. Employment increased for the fourth time in five months and at its fastest rate since June 2014. Exports continued to con- tract, but this subindex did reach its highest level s i n c e D e c e m b e r 2014. S u p p l i e r d e l i v e r i e s