Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization - G.17

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Release Date: April 15, 2022
Revision of Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization Notice Below

Total industrial production advanced 0.9 percent in March and rose at an annual rate of 8.1 percent for the first quarter. Manufacturing output gained 0.9 percent in March; the output of motor vehicles and parts jumped 7.8 percent, while factory output elsewhere moved up 0.4 percent. The index for utilities increased 0.4 percent, and the index for mining advanced 1.7 percent. At 104.6 percent of its 2017 average, total industrial production in March was 5.5 percent above its year-earlier level. Capacity utilization climbed to 78.3 percent, a rate that is 1.2 percentage points below its long-run (1972–2021) average.

Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization: Summary
Seasonally adjusted
Industrial production 2017=100 Percent change
2021 2022 2021 2022 Mar. '21 to
Mar. '22
Oct.[r] Nov.[r] Dec.[r] Jan.[r] Feb.[r] Mar.[p] Oct.[r] Nov.[r] Dec.[r] Jan.[r] Feb.[r] Mar.[p]
       
Total index 101.3 102.0 101.6 102.7 103.6 104.6 1.4 .8 -.4 1.0 .9 .9 5.5
Previous estimates 101.2 102.0 101.6 103.0 103.6   1.4 .8 -.4 1.4 .5    
       
Major market groups
Final Products 100.8 101.7 101.3 102.4 102.8 104.3 .7 .9 -.4 1.1 .4 1.5 4.6
Consumer goods 99.9 100.9 100.3 101.9 101.5 102.9 .4 .9 -.6 1.6 -.4 1.4 3.0
Business equipment 95.3 95.9 95.8 95.4 97.2 98.9 1.1 .6 -.1 -.4 1.8 1.8 5.2
Nonindustrial supplies 98.9 100.1 99.5 100.2 101.7 101.7 1.0 1.2 -.6 .7 1.5 .0 5.0
Construction 102.5 104.3 104.8 103.8 106.2 106.0 1.5 1.8 .4 -.9 2.3 -.2 4.2
Materials 102.3 102.9 102.6 103.6 104.9 105.7 2.2 .5 -.3 1.1 1.2 .7 6.5
       
Major industry groups
Manufacturing (see note below) 99.9 100.5 100.4 100.5 101.7 102.6 1.7 .6 -.1 .2 1.2 .9 4.9
Previous estimates 99.9 100.5 100.3 100.4 101.5   1.7 .5 -.1 .1 1.2    
Mining 108.8 109.0 109.0 109.5 110.9 112.8 4.0 .2 .0 .5 1.3 1.7 7.0
Utilities 99.3 102.2 99.6 107.0 106.0 106.4 -3.6 2.8 -2.6 7.5 -1.0 .4 7.5

Capacity utilization Percent of capacity Capacity
growth
Average
1972-
2021 		1988-
89
high 		1990-
91
low 		1994-
95
high 		 
2009
low 		 
2021
Mar. 		   
2021 2022 Mar. '21 to
Mar. '22
Oct.[r] Nov.[r] Dec.[r] Jan.[r] Feb.[r] Mar.[p]
       
Total industry 79.5 85.2 78.8 85.1 66.6 74.8 76.1 76.6 76.3 77.0 77.7 78.3 .7
Previous estimates             76.1 76.6 76.3 77.3 77.6    
       
Manufacturing (see note below) 78.1 85.6 77.3 84.7 63.5 75.3 76.8 77.2 77.1 77.2 78.1 78.7 .3
Previous estimates             76.8 77.2 77.1 77.1 78.0    
Mining 85.9 86.0 83.8 88.3 78.3 74.5 77.2 77.3 77.3 77.5 78.3 79.5 .2
Utilities 84.8 93.1 84.6 93.2 78.0 71.6 70.9 72.7 70.7 75.9 75.0 75.1 2.5
       
Stage-of-process groups
Crude 85.2 87.7 84.6 89.7 76.5 73.9 77.8 77.9 77.6 77.9 78.9 79.8 .4
Primary and semifinished 80.1 86.5 78.1 87.9 63.5 74.2 75.1 75.9 75.3 76.5 77.3 77.5 .8
Finished 76.8 83.4 77.5 80.7 66.5 75.8 76.8 77.3 77.2 77.5 77.8 78.9 .3
[r] Revised. [p] Preliminary.
Market Groups

In March, the jump in motor vehicle production contributed to increases of 3.9 percent and 5.2 percent for consumer durables and transit equipment, respectively, and to a smaller increase for durable materials. Gains were recorded by all other major market groups except construction supplies and nondurable materials, each of which recorded a decrease of 0.2 percent. Within nondurable consumer goods, the indexes for both consumer energy products and non-energy nondurables rose 0.7 percent. Industrial and other equipment, defense and space equipment, and energy materials registered gains of between 0.9 percent and 1.4 percent, while the index for business supplies edged up 0.1 percent.

Industry Groups

Manufacturing output rose 0.9 percent in March and was 4.9 percent above its year-earlier level. For the first quarter, factory output advanced at an annual rate of 5.4 percent. In March, the indexes for durable and nondurable manufacturing increased 1.3 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively, while the output of other manufacturing (publishing and logging) moved up 0.2 percent.

Excluding the large gain in motor vehicles and parts, the output of durable goods increased 0.4 percent in March, with most industries posting gains; only nonmetallic mineral products, primary metals, and furniture and related products recorded decreases. Increases were posted by all nondurable goods industries except for textile and product mills, paper, and printing and support; the largest rise (1.1 percent) was registered by plastics and rubber products.

The gain in utilities reflected an increase of 0.9 percent for electric utilities, partly offset by a drop of 2.9 percent for natural gas utilities. Mining output rose for the third consecutive month, boosted by strength in the oil and gas sector; the index for mining advanced at an annual rate of 8.0 percent in the first quarter.

Capacity utilization for manufacturing increased 0.6 percentage point in March to 78.7 percent. The factory operating rate was above its long-run average of 78.1 percent for the first time since August 2018. The operating rate for mining jumped 1.2 percentage points to 79.5 percent, and the operating rate for utilities edged up to 75.1 percent. Both rates remained well below their long-run averages.

Revision of Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization

The Federal Reserve Board plans to issue its annual revision to the indexes of industrial production (IP) and the related measures of capacity utilization in the second quarter of 2022. New annual benchmark data for manufacturing for 2020 will be incorporated, as well as other annual data, including information on the mining of metallic and nonmetallic minerals (except fuels). The updated IP indexes will include revisions to the monthly indicator—either product data or input data—and to seasonal factors for each industry. In addition, the estimation methods for some series may be changed. Any modifications to the methods for estimating the output of an industry will affect the index from 1972 to the present.

Capacity and capacity utilization will be revised to incorporate data for manufacturing through the fourth quarter of 2021 from the U.S. Census Bureau's Quarterly Survey of Plant Capacity Utilization, along with new data on capacity from the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. Department of Energy, and other organizations.

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.

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Last Update: April 15, 2022