The Cutting Edge™ - March 2004

International Business Development
U.S. Export and Import Trade Statistics

The following is a summary of major trends of U.S. import and exports for 2003. Statistics are reported for all woodworking equipment and its three component parts: machines, cutting tools and, accessories and parts.

(WMMA® members: to view detailed tables on U.S. imports and exports of machinery, cutting tools and parts and accessories, click here www.WMMA.org/members/inter_bus.cfm.You will need your user name and password. If you don’t have one or forgot it, contact WMMA® Headquarters at 215-564-3484 or email: wmma@fernley.com).

Harold Zassenhaus is available to provide U.S. export and import data on specific product categories. For more information, contact him at (301) 652 0693; fax (301) 986 1389 or e-mail: zemg@erols.com

U.S. Exports, Woodworking Equipment January - December
	Millions of U.S. Dollars			% Share			% Change
	2001	2002	2003	2001	2002	2003	- 03/02 -
World	288.0	273.9	274.3	100.0	100.0	100.0	0.2
Canada	110.3	123.2	121.7	38.3	45.0	44.4	-1.2
Western Europe	56.1	46.3	47.0	19.5	16.9	17.1	1.6
East Asia	53.2	40.8	42.1	18.5	14.9	15.3	3.1
Mexico	24.4	24.3	18.4	8.5	8.9	6.7	-24.3
South/Central America	21.6	20.4	17.3	7.5	7.5	6.3	-15.4
Eastern Europe	5.1	4.0	5.6	1.8	1.5	2.1	40.0

Canada continues to consume about 44% of our exports. However, for the first time since we have been monitoring trade statistics, exports of cutting tools exceeded sales of machinery. About 42% of what we sell is made up of cutting tools, while machinery now accounts for about 38%, and parts and accessories the remaining 20%.

2003 was a particularly bad year for Mexico, as exports to our second largest consumer plummeted, mostly due to a decline in machinery sales of 32% or $4 million.

Exports to South America also declined. However, the 15% drop was principally due to a return to a normal of exports to Chile, from its $8 million spike in 2002.

Exports to Australia and New Zealand increased dramatically in 2003. Combined exports totaled over $15.7 million, and shipments of woodworking machinery and cutting tools each increased by over 40%.

Sales to Western Europe remained about the same. Drops in shipments to Germany, Italy and France were made up by sales to the United Kingdom, Belgium, Netherlands, Portugal and Ireland.

U.S. Imports, Woodworking Equipment January – December
	Millions of U.S. Dollars			% Share			% Change
	2001	2002	2003	2001	2002	2003	- 03/02 -
World	1129.0	1224.6	1338.8	100.0	100.0	100.0	9.3
East Asia	551.4	651.7	717.9	48.8	53.2	53.6	10.2
Western Europe	434.8	419.4	453.3	38.5	34.3	33.9	8.1
Canada	75.5	77.0	79.0	6.7	6.3	5.9	2.7
South/Central America	3.7	4.8	11.8	0.3	0.4	0.9	144.2
Eastern Europe	6.3	7.4	6.8	0.6	0.6	0.5	-7.6
Mexico	9.6	2.7	2.1	0.9	0.2	0.2	-25.2

Woodworking equipment imports, for the third straight year, increased by about 9%. And for the past several years, imports from East Asia outpaced imports as a whole. In 2003 they increased by slightly over 10% with Taiwan and China accounting for 45%, or $602 million. Again, imports from China grew at a faster rate than any of the ten top suppliers --- in 2003 it was by 46%. Over 90% of Chinese imports were of smaller machinery used by hobbyists or in light commercial trade.

Purchases from Western Europe increased 8% in 2003, despite a falling dollar in the last two quarters. There were some indications that the quantity of machinery coming from Western Europe slacked off in the 4th quarter, perhaps as importers reacted to the softening dollar by making fewer purchases in the last quarter and/or increasing purchase in the previous quarters in anticipation of a falling dollar. On a dollar basis, imports from Italy and Germany each rose by more than the average, and more than offset the 28% decrease in imports from the UK.

Imports from South America, made up almost exclusively from Brazilian woodworking equipment, increased to over $11 million, a 144% increase over 2002. Cutting tools accounted for $8.5 million or 76% of the total, growing by 375%.