Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization - G.17

Current Release (252 KB PDF) (ASCII)

Release Date: July 16, 2014

Industrial production increased 0.2 percent in June and advanced at an annual rate of 5.5 percent for the second quarter of 2014. In June, manufacturing output edged up 0.1 percent for its fifth consecutive monthly gain, while the production at mines moved up 0.8 percent and the output of utilities declined 0.3 percent. For the second quarter as a whole, manufacturing production rose at an annual rate of 6.7 percent, while mining output increased at an annual rate of 18.8 percent because of gains in the extraction of oil and gas; by contrast, the output of utilities fell at an annual rate of 21.4 percent following a weather-related increase of 15.6 percent in the first quarter. At 103.9 percent of its 2007 average, total industrial production in June was 4.3 percent above its level of a year earlier. The capacity utilization rate for total industry was unchanged in June at 79.1 percent, a rate that is 1.0 percentage point below its long-run (1972–2013) average.

Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization: Summary

Seasonally adjusted
Industrial production 2007=100 Percent change
2014 2014 June '13 to
June '14
Jan.[r] Feb.[r] Mar.[r] Apr.[r] May[r] June[p] Jan.[r] Feb.[r] Mar.[r] Apr.[r] May[r] June[p]
       
Total index 101.3 102.2 103.2 103.2 103.7 103.9 -.2 .9 .9 .0 .5 .2 4.3
Previous estimates 101.4 102.5 103.3 103.0 103.7   -.2 1.1 .8 -.3 .6    
       
Major market groups
Final Products 98.0 99.7 100.5 100.2 100.2 100.3 -.7 1.7 .8 -.3 .0 .1 3.4
Consumer goods 95.8 97.3 98.0 97.5 97.2 97.2 -.9 1.6 .8 -.6 -.3 .0 3.0
Business equipment 102.4 104.8 105.8 106.2 106.9 107.0 -.2 2.4 .9 .3 .6 .1 4.7
Nonindustrial supplies 90.1 90.6 90.8 90.4 91.1 91.2 -.1 .6 .3 -.4 .7 .1 3.2
Construction 82.3 83.0 83.7 83.0 84.1 84.5 -.3 .8 .8 -.9 1.4 .5 4.6
Materials 108.3 108.7 109.9 110.4 111.3 111.7 .1 .4 1.2 .4 .8 .4 5.4
       
Major industry groups
Manufacturing (see note below) 96.8 98.0 98.8 99.1 99.6 99.7 -1.0 1.3 .9 .3 .4 .1 3.5
Previous estimates 96.9 98.3 99.0 98.9 99.5   -.9 1.4 .8 -.1 .6    
Mining 122.9 122.8 125.3 127.8 129.2 130.3 1.1 .0 2.0 2.0 1.1 .8 9.7
Utilities 107.3 107.0 106.5 101.0 100.6 100.3 3.3 -.3 -.5 -5.1 -.4 -.3 1.8

Capacity utilization Percent of capacity Capacity
growth
Average
1972-
2013
1988-
89
high
1990-
91
low
1994-
95
high
 
2009
low
 
2013
June
   
2014 June '13 to
June '14
Jan.[r] Feb.[r] Mar.[r] Apr.[r] May[r] June[p]
       
Total industry 80.1 85.3 78.7 85.0 66.9 77.8 78.1 78.6 79.1 79.0 79.1 79.1 2.6
Previous estimates             78.1 78.8 79.3 78.9 79.1    
       
Manufacturing (see note below) 78.7 85.6 77.3 84.6 63.9 76.1 75.5 76.3 76.9 77.0 77.2 77.1 2.0
Previous estimates             75.5 76.5 76.9 76.7 77.0    
Mining 87.3 86.3 83.8 88.5 78.8 87.6 87.9 87.4 88.5 89.6 89.9 90.0 6.8
Utilities 86.1 92.9 84.3 93.3 78.5 77.9 84.5 84.2 83.7 79.4 79.0 78.7 .8
       
Stage-of-process groups
Crude 86.3 87.7 84.4 89.6 76.8 86.3 86.0 85.7 86.5 87.5 87.9 87.7 5.4
Primary and semifinished 80.8 86.5 77.9 87.7 64.2 75.5 77.4 77.7 78.0 77.1 77.2 77.3 1.4
Finished 77.1 83.4 77.4 80.6 66.8 76.6 75.1 76.3 77.0 77.0 77.0 77.0 2.7
r Revised. p Preliminary.
Market Groups

The production of consumer goods was unchanged in June but increased at an annual rate of 1.1 percent in the second quarter. In June, the output of consumer durables rose 0.7 percent and the production of non-energy nondurables gained 0.2 percent; the index for consumer energy products declined 1.2 percent. Output increased for all of the major components of consumer durables: The production of home electronics advanced 4.0 percent, and the indexes for automotive products; appliances, furniture, and carpeting; and miscellaneous goods each moved up between 1/2 and 3/4 percent. Among consumer non-energy nondurables, gains in the output of chemical products and paper products were partially offset by declines in the indexes for foods and tobacco and for clothing.

The production of business equipment edged up 0.1 percent in June, as a rise of 1.6 percent in the output of transit equipment slightly more than offset declines in the indexes for information processing equipment and for industrial and other equipment. For the second quarter, the production of business equipment rose at an annual rate of 9.2 percent, as the index for transit equipment advanced at an annual rate of 17.3 percent and the output of industrial and other equipment increased at an annual rate of 10.1 percent. The output of information processing equipment, however, posted a small decline for the quarter.

The production of defense and space equipment gained 0.4 percent in June. After having decreased at an annual rate of 2.0 percent in the first quarter, the index posted an increase of 4.1 percent in the second quarter.

Among nonindustrial supplies, the production of construction supplies gained 0.5 percent in June and moved up at an annual rate of 4.2 percent in the second quarter. The index for business supplies edged down 0.1 percent in June and increased at an annual rate of 0.6 percent in the second quarter.

The output of materials rose 0.4 percent in June—its sixth consecutive monthly increase—and rose at an annual rate of 8.2 percent for the second quarter. The production of durable materials increased 0.5 percent in June; among its components, the indexes for consumer parts and equipment parts were little changed while the index for other durable materials advanced 1.1 percent. The output of nondurable materials decreased 0.3 percent; although the output of textile materials jumped, the indexes for chemical materials, paper materials, and other nondurable materials all declined. The index for energy materials rose 0.6 percent for its fourth consecutive monthly gain.

Industry Groups

Manufacturing production edged up 0.1 percent in June and was 3.5 percent above its year-earlier level. Output rose at an annual rate of 6.7 percent in the second quarter after increasing 1.4 percent in the first quarter. The factory operating rate edged down 0.1 percentage point in June to 77.1 percent, a rate 1.6 percentage points below its long-run average.

The production of durable goods increased 0.4 percent in June and rose at an annual rate of 8.8 percent in the second quarter. In June, the gains were broad based among durable manufacturing industries, with increases of 1.0 percent or more in the indexes for nonmetallic mineral products, for primary metals, for fabricated metal products, for aerospace and miscellaneous transportation equipment, and for furniture and related products. Small declines were recorded in the indexes for machinery and for motor vehicles and parts. Capacity utilization for durable goods manufacturing increased 0.2 percentage point to 77.3 percent, a rate 0.3 percentage point above its long-run average.

The production of nondurable goods moved down 0.3 percent in June but increased at an annual rate of 5.0 percent in the second quarter. In June, the output of petroleum and coal products fell 2.7 percent, in part because of a disruption at a major refinery; the production of apparel and leather declined 1.3 percent, and the index for food, beverage, and tobacco products moved down 0.6 percent. The other categories of nondurables posted gains, with the largest increase, 1.2 percent, recorded for plastics and rubber products. The operating rate for nondurable manufacturing declined 0.3 percentage point to 78.4 percent, a rate 2.3 percentage points below its long-run average.

The output of non-NAICS manufacturing industries (publishing and logging) advanced 1.0 percent in June following a decrease of 0.8 percent in May. The index decreased at an annual rate of 0.4 percent in the second quarter.

Mining output advanced 0.8 percent in June; the output of mines was 9.7 percent above its level of a year earlier. Capacity utilization at mines edged up 0.1 percentage point in June to 90.0 percent, a rate 2.7 percentage points above its long-run average. The output of utilities decreased 0.3 percent, marking its fifth consecutive month of declines. The operating rate for utilities decreased 0.3 percentage point in June to 78.7 percent, a rate 7.4 percentage points below its long-run average.

Capacity utilization rates in June for industries grouped by stage of process were as follows: At the crude stage, utilization decreased 0.2 percentage point to 87.7 percent, a rate 1.4 percentage points above its long-run average; at the primary and semifinished stages, utilization edged up 0.1 percentage point to 77.3 percent, a rate 3.5 percentage points below its long-run average; and at the finished stage, utilization was unchanged at 77.0 percent, a rate 0.1 percentage point below its long-run average.

Note: Revised Estimates of Industrial Capacity

The estimates for industrial capacity in 2014 were revised for this release. The revisions reflect updated measures of physical capacity from various government and trade sources as well as updated estimates of capital spending by industry. Capacity for the industrial sector, measured from the fourth quarter of 2013 to the fourth quarter of 2014, is now expected to increase 3.1 percent, a rate that is 0.1 percentage point faster than previously estimated. Manufacturing capacity is expected to rise 2.2 percent in 2014, a pace 0.4 percentage point less than in previous estimates; the downward revisions to capacity were widespread among manufacturing industries. The increase in mining capacity for 2014 has been revised up 3.4 percentage points to 9.2 percent, entirely as a result of an upward revision to the capacity for oil and gas extraction. The gain in capacity for utilities, at 1.0 percent, is unrevised.

Note. The statistics in this release cover output, capacity, and capacity utilization in the U.S. industrial sector, which is defined by the Federal Reserve to comprise manufacturing, mining, and electric and gas utilities. Mining is defined as all industries in sector 21 of the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS); electric and gas utilities are those in NAICS sectors 2211 and 2212. Manufacturing comprises NAICS manufacturing industries (sector 31-33) plus the logging industry and the newspaper, periodical, book, and directory publishing industries. Logging and publishing are classified elsewhere in NAICS (under agriculture and information respectively), but historically they were considered to be manufacturing and were included in the industrial sector under the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system. In December 2002 the Federal Reserve reclassified all its industrial output data from the SIC system to NAICS.

G.17 Release Tables:

Summary: Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization
Chart 1: Industrial Production, Capacity, and Capacity Utilization
Chart 2: Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization
Chart 3: Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization, High Technology Industries
Table 1: Industrial Production: Market and Industry Groups (percent change)
Table 2: Industrial Production: Special Aggregates and Selected Detail (percent change)
Table 3: Motor Vehicle Assemblies
Table 4: Industrial Production Indexes: Market and Industry Group Summary
Table 5: Industrial Production Indexes: Special Aggregates
Table 6: Diffusion Indexes of Industrial Production
Table 7: Capacity Utilization: Manufacturing, Mining, and Utilities
Table 8: Industrial Capacity: Manufacturing, Mining, and Utilities (percent change)
Table 9: Industrial Production: Gross Value of Products and Nonindustrial Supplies
Table 10: Gross-Value-Weighted Industrial Production: Stage-of-Process Groups
Table 11: Historical Statistics for IP, Capacity, and Utilization: Total Industry
Table 12: Historical Statistics for IP, Capacity, and Utilization: Manufacturing
Table 13: Historical Statistics for IP, Capacity, and Utilization: Total Industry excluding Selected High-Technology Industries
Table 14: Historical Statistics for IP, Capacity, and Utilization: Manufacturing excluding Selected High-Technology Industries

Return to top

Last update: July 16, 2014