Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization - G.17

Current Release (250 KB PDF) (ASCII)

Release Date: June 15, 2012

Industrial production edged down 0.1 percent in May after having gained 1.0 percent in April. A decrease of 0.4 percent for manufacturing production in May partially reversed a large increase in April. Outside of manufacturing, the output of mines advanced 0.9 percent in May, while the output of utilities rose 0.8 percent. At 97.3 percent of its 2007 average, total industrial production in May was 4.7 percent above its year-earlier level. Capacity utilization for total industry declined 0.2 percentage point to 79.0 percent, a rate 1.3 percentage points below its long-run (1972--2011) average.

Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization: Summary

Seasonally adjusted
Industrial production 2007=100 Percent change
2011
Dec.[r]
2012 2011
Dec.[r]
2012 May '11 to
May '12
Jan.[r] Feb.[r] Mar.[r] Apr.[r] May[p] Jan.[r] Feb.[r] Mar.[r] Apr.[r] May[p]
       
Total index 95.9 96.5 97.0 96.4 97.4 97.3 .9 .6 .4 -.5 1.0 -.1 4.7
Previous estimates 95.9 96.5 96.9 96.4 97.4   .8 .6 .4 -.6 1.1    
       
Major market groups
Final Products 94.7 95.4 96.1 95.4 96.7 96.5 .5 .8 .7 -.7 1.3 -.2 4.5
Consumer goods 92.5 92.9 93.2 92.3 93.6 93.4 .4 .4 .4 -1.0 1.4 -.2 2.3
Business equipment 97.5 99.4 100.8 101.1 102.6 102.9 1.0 2.0 1.4 .3 1.5 .3 11.3
Nonindustrial supplies 86.2 86.4 87.5 86.8 87.9 87.6 1.3 .3 1.3 -.8 1.3 -.4 3.6
Construction 79.8 80.0 81.7 80.9 81.4 80.5 2.4 .2 2.1 -1.0 .7 -1.2 5.1
Materials 100.5 101.1 101.1 100.7 101.3 101.4 1.1 .6 .0 -.4 .6 .1 5.1
       
Major industry groups
Manufacturing (see note below) 92.9 93.8 94.6 94.0 94.7 94.3 1.5 1.0 .8 -.6 .7 -.4 5.2
Previous estimates 92.8 93.8 94.5 94.1 94.6   1.4 1.0 .8 -.5 .6    
Mining 112.6 112.8 110.5 110.5 109.8 110.8 .7 .2 -2.0 .0 -.6 .9 4.6
Utilities 96.6 94.8 95.9 95.3 100.4 101.2 -3.6 -1.9 1.1 -.6 5.3 .8 1.0

Capacity utilization Percent of capacity Capacity
growth
Average
1972-
2011
1988-
89
high
1990-
91
low
1994-
95
high
 
2009
low
 
2011
May
   
2011
Dec.[r]
2012 May '11 to
May '12
Jan.[r] Feb.[r] Mar.[r] Apr.[r] May[p]
       
Total industry 80.3 85.2 78.8 85.0 66.8 76.3 78.3 78.7 79.0 78.5 79.2 79.0 1.1
Previous estimates             78.2 78.7 78.9 78.4 79.2    
       
Manufacturing (see note below) 78.8 85.6 77.3 84.6 63.8 74.4 76.8 77.5 78.1 77.5 78.0 77.6 .9
Previous estimates             76.7 77.5 78.0 77.6 77.9    
Mining 87.3 86.3 83.9 88.6 78.5 86.8 91.0 91.1 89.2 89.1 88.5 89.2 1.7
Utilities 86.3 92.9 84.3 93.3 79.1 77.5 73.7 72.2 72.9 72.3 76.0 76.5 2.3
       
Stage-of-process groups
Crude 86.3 87.7 84.4 89.7 76.4 84.8 88.6 88.9 87.2 87.3 86.7 87.0 1.3
Primary and semifinished 81.1 86.5 78.0 87.9 64.2 73.8 75.1 75.0 76.0 75.4 76.5 76.4 .4
Finished 77.2 83.4 77.3 80.6 66.8 75.6 77.5 78.5 78.8 78.2 79.0 78.6 2.0
r Revised. p Preliminary.
Market Groups

The production of consumer goods declined 0.2 percent in May after having climbed 1.4 percent in April. Within consumer goods, the output of durables fell 1.3 percent in May, with none of the major categories registering an increase: The production of automotive products moved down 1.9 percent; the output of home electronics was unchanged; the output of appliances, furniture, and carpeting decreased 0.5 percent; and the index for miscellaneous consumer durables declined 0.4 percent. The output of consumer nondurables edged up 0.1 percent, as a gain in the energy category was mostly offset by a decline in non-energy nondurables. The increase for the consumer energy index reflected stronger electricity sales to households and higher output of fuels. The production of non-energy nondurables declined 0.2 percent: A large decrease for paper products and a small decrease for foods and tobacco were mostly offset by a large increase for clothing and a small increase for chemical products. Over the past 12 months, the index for consumer goods has risen 2.3 percent, with the production of durable consumer goods up 11.7 percent and the output of nondurable consumer goods down 0.4 percent.

The output of business equipment rose 0.3 percent in May. Among its major components, the index for transit equipment moved up 0.5 percent, the index for information processing equipment edged down 0.2 percent, and the index for industrial and other equipment increased 0.4 percent. Over the past 12 months, the overall index for business equipment has advanced 11.3 percent, with sizable gains in all three of its major categories.

The output of defense and space equipment dropped 2.2 percent in May, in large part because of a strike at a major military aircraft facility. The index was 1.5 percent above its year-earlier level.

Among nonindustrial supplies, the output of construction supplies decreased 1.2 percent in May. After having increased 5.6 percent between October and February, the index has fallen back 1.5 percent over the past three months. The production of business supplies edged down 0.1 percent last month.

The output of materials to be processed further in the industrial sector rose 0.1 percent in May after having increased 0.6 percent in April. The output of durable materials decreased 0.5 percent in May; output moved lower for all three of its major components. The production of nondurable materials fell 0.6 percent because of losses in chemical materials and paper materials. The index for energy materials strengthened 1.1 percent mostly as a result of increases for crude oil extraction, coal mining, and electricity generation.

Industry Groups

In May, manufacturing output decreased 0.4 percent after having advanced 0.7 percent in April. The index for manufacturing in May was 5.2 percent above its year-earlier level. The factory operating rate moved down 0.4 percentage point to 77.6 percent, a level 1.2 percentage points below its long-run average.

The production index for durable goods declined 0.5 percent in May after having posted a gain of 1.4 percent in April. Durable goods industries with decreases of more than 1 percent in May included nonmetallic mineral products, primary metals, motor vehicles and parts, and furniture and related products. The largest increase among major durable goods industries was for wood products, which moved up 1.0 percent, and smaller gains were recorded by fabricated metals; electrical equipment, appliances, and components; and miscellaneous manufacturing. Capacity utilization for durable goods manufacturing was 78.0 percent, a rate 5.0 percentage points above its year-earlier level and 0.9 percentage point above its long-run average.

The production of nondurables decreased 0.2 percent in May, its third consecutive month without a gain. The index has risen 1.4 percent in the last 12 months; capacity utilization edged down 0.1 percentage point in May to 78.4 percent, a rate 2.5 percentage points below its long-run average. Despite production increases in May of about 1 percent for apparel and leather and for petroleum and coal products, and a smaller gain for printing, decreases in all of the other major nondurable goods industries led to a decline in the overall index.

Production in the non-NAICS manufacturing industries (logging and publishing) dropped 1.3 percent in May after having risen 0.6 percent in April.

In May, mining output advanced 0.9 percent, primarily supported by gains in crude oil extraction and coal mining. Capacity utilization for mining moved up 0.7 percentage point to 89.2 percent, a rate 1.9 percentage points above its long-run average. The output of utilities increased 0.8 percent after having jumped 5.3 percent in April. The operating rate for utilities rose 0.5 percentage point in May to 76.5 percent, a rate 9.8 percentage points below its long-run average.

Capacity utilization rates in May for industries grouped by stage of process were as follows: At the crude stage, utilization gained 0.3 percentage point to 87.0 percent, a rate 0.7 percentage point above its long-run average; at the primary and semifinished stages, utilization edged down 0.1 percentage point to 76.4 percent, a rate 4.7 percentage points below its long-run average; and at the finished stage, utilization declined 0.4 percentage point to 78.6 percent, a rate 1.4 percentage points higher than its long-run average.

Revision of Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization

The Federal Reserve Board issued its annual revision to the index of industrial production (IP) and the related measures of capacity utilization at noon EDT on March 30, 2012. The revised IP indexes incorporated detailed data from the 2010 Annual Survey of Manufactures, conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. Annual data from the U.S. Geological Survey regarding metallic and nonmetallic minerals (except fuels) for 2010 were also incorporated. The update included revisions to the monthly indicator and to seasonal factors for each industry. In addition, the estimation methods for some series have changed. Modifications to the methods for estimating the output of an industry did affect the index from 1972 to the present.

Capacity and capacity utilization were revised to incorporate data through the fourth quarter of 2011 from the Census Bureau's Quarterly Survey of Plant Capacity, which covers manufacturing, along with new data on capacity from the U.S. Geological Survey, the Department of Energy, and other organizations.

The revision is available on the Board's website at www.federalreserve.gov/releases/G17. Further information on the revision can be obtained from the Board's Industrial Output Section (telephone number 202-452-3197).

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

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Last update: June 15, 2012