McLEAN, VA--U.S. machine tool sales in April totaled $180.37 million, that's a decrease of 38.6 percent compared with March sales and a decrease of 39.2 percent compared with April 2000 sales.

According to the Association for Manufacturing Technology and the American Machine Tool Distributors' Association (AMTDA), machine tool sales for the first 4 months of 2001 totaled $906.8 million--33.4 percent less than sales during the same period in 2000.

"Manufacturers' year-to-date investment in capital equipment continues to run below an already poor average for the past year, resulting in a great deal of excess capacity," says Ralph J. Nappi, president of the AMTDA. "There is little likelihood of any major changes in capital equipment purchases in the near term."