U.S. manufacturers ordered $426.83 million worth of new machine tools and related equipment during June, a 5.8% drop from the May total, and a 5.7% decrease from the June 2012 result.

The data is contained in the monthly U.S. Manufacturing Technology Orders report, compiled by AMT - the Association for Manufacturing Technology and based on actual data reported by participating companies.

The USMTO report includes data on production and distribution of machine tools and related equipment, including domestic products as well as imports. In addition to the U.S. total, the report provides results for six geographic regions.

The June result brings the U.S. year-to-date total for manufacturing technology orders to $2,538.55 million, a decline of 5.7% compared with the January-June 2012 total.

"It’s typical for orders to experience a modest drop going into the summer months, and we’ve seen this lull in six of the past nine summers,” observed AMT president Douglas K. Woods. "It’s important to remember that in the overall picture, this is a very strong order level."

"Manufacturing is still the key area driving the economy,” Woods continued. “With durable goods orders at a record level of $244 billion in June, and the Purchasing Managers’ Index at 55, we expect manufacturing technology orders to hold steady through the end of the year.”