Demand for manufacturing technology fell among U.S. manufacturers in most regions in February, however the overall value of machine tools and equipment orders remained considerably higher than in the same month last year.

The total value of United States manufacturers' machine tool and related equipment consumption dropped to $329.43 million in February, down 10.9 percent from January, according to the latest U.S. Manufacturing Technology Consumption (USMTC) report, released Monday. Although consumption continued to make month-to-month declines, the February total was 99.3 percent higher than the $165.31 million reported for February 2010.

With a year-to-date total of $699.16 million, 2011 is up 138.1 percent compared with the same period last year.

Based on data from member companies of the American Machine Tool Distributors' Association and the Association for Manufacturing Technology (AMT), the USMTC report provides regional and national consumption figures for manufacturing machine tools and related equipment.

On a month-to-month basis, February machine tool consumption decreased in three of the five major U.S. regions tracked by the USMTC.

The largest drop was in the Southern states, as February manufacturing tech consumption fell to $34.35 million, a 36 percent decline from January's total. However, consumption remained 73.1 percent above the total for February 2010, and the year-to-date total of $88.01 million was 85.8 percent higher than the total for the same period last year.

Machine tool consumption in the Western region dropped from $43.82 million to $29.52 million, a 32.6 percent decrease from January but 25.7 percent above the total for February 2010. So far this year, consumption in the region has reached $73.34 million, up 109 percent compared with the same period last year.

In the Central region, month-to-month consumption fell 11.3 percent to $97.49 million but remained 88.3 percent higher than the total for February 2010. The year-to-date total of $207.4 million was 166.5 percent above the total for the same period last year.

Meanwhile, manufacturing tech consumption in the Northeast rose, climbing 10.6 percent to $55.16 million in February. The monthly total was also 104.4 percent higher than the consumption figures for February 2010, and the year-to-date total of $105.03 million surged 310.7 percent above the first two months of the prior year.

Consumption in the Midwest inched up from $112.47 million in January to $112.9 million in February, marking a 161.2 percent increase over February 2010. At $225.38 million, the year-to-date total was 178.8 percent higher than the total for the same period last year.

"The dramatic year-over-year growth further underscores the manufacturing renaissance that is taking place," AMT President Douglas K. Woods said. "As February is a short month, the slight decline from January is to be expected, but the overall gains compared with February 2010 point to our belief that 2011 will be a strong year for the industry."

According to the latest data from the U.S. Department of Commerce, the value of new machinery orders fell slightly from $27.77 billion in January to $27.23 billion in February, a 2 percent decline, led by steep drops in materials handling equipment and power transmission equipment. New orders for industrial machinery, however, rose 34.7 percent in February, totaling more than $3 billion for the month. So far in 2011, total machinery orders have totaled $52.95 billion, 21.4 percent above the prior-year level.

Meanwhile, machinery shipments rose 2.3 percent to total $25.87 billion in February. The year-to-date total for machinery shipments reached $47.07 billion, 11.8 percent above the figure for the same period last year.

Monthly decreases in machinery consumption and orders may be in line with seasonal changes, as the machinery industry continues to grow at a steady pace while posting strong year-over-year performance. In the Institute for Supply Management's latest manufacturing Report on Business, released earlier this month, the machinery industry ranked among the 15 manufacturing industries that reported growth in March.