Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization - G.17

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Release Date: March 15, 2019
Revision of Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization Notice Below

Industrial production edged up 0.1 percent in February after decreasing 0.4 percent in January. Manufacturing production fell 0.4 percent in February for its second consecutive monthly decline. The index for utilities rose 3.7 percent, while the index for mining moved up 0.3 percent. At 109.7 percent of its 2012 average, total industrial production was 3.5 percent higher in February than it was a year earlier. Capacity utilization for the industrial sector edged down 0.1 percentage point in February to 78.2 percent, a rate that is 1.6 percentage points below its long-run (1972–2018) average.

Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization: Summary
Seasonally adjusted
Industrial production 2012=100 Percent change
2018 2019 2018 2019 Feb. '18 to
Feb. '19
Sept.[r] Oct.[r] Nov.[r] Dec.[r] Jan.[r] Feb.[p] Sept.[r] Oct.[r] Nov.[r] Dec.[r] Jan.[r] Feb.[p]
       
Total index 109.1 109.2 109.8 109.9 109.5 109.7 .2 .1 .6 .1 -.4 .1 3.5
Previous estimates 109.0 109.3 110.0 110.1 109.4   .2 .3 .6 .1 -.6    
       
Major market groups
Final Products 103.8 104.0 104.3 104.1 103.7 103.5 .6 .3 .3 -.2 -.4 -.2 1.7
Consumer goods 106.4 106.7 107.0 106.2 105.5 105.4 .5 .3 .3 -.7 -.7 -.1 .1
Business equipment 102.2 102.3 102.6 103.5 103.3 102.3 1.0 .1 .3 .9 -.2 -1.0 3.7
Nonindustrial supplies 106.9 107.5 107.4 107.9 107.8 107.8 -.2 .5 .0 .5 -.1 -.1 1.0
Construction 114.3 114.6 115.2 117.0 117.0 116.4 -.1 .3 .5 1.6 .0 -.5 1.4
Materials 114.0 113.9 115.1 115.3 114.8 115.3 .0 -.1 1.0 .2 -.5 .5 5.9
       
Major industry groups
Manufacturing (see note below) 105.2 104.9 105.1 105.7 105.2 104.8 .3 -.3 .2 .6 -.5 -.4 1.0
Previous estimates 105.2 105.0 105.3 106.1 105.2   .2 -.1 .3 .8 -.9    
Mining 127.6 127.9 129.2 131.0 131.4 131.8 .9 .2 1.0 1.4 .3 .3 12.5
Utilities 104.1 107.6 110.2 104.5 103.5 107.3 -1.3 3.4 2.4 -5.2 -.9 3.7 9.0
Capacity utilization Percent of capacity Capacity
growth
Average
1972-
2018 		1988-
89
high 		1990-
91
low 		1994-
95
high 		 
2009
low 		 
2018
Feb. 		   
2018 2019 Feb. '18 to
Feb. '19
Sept.[r] Oct.[r] Nov.[r] Dec.[r] Jan.[r] Feb.[p]
       
Total industry 79.8 85.2 78.8 85.0 66.7 77.2 78.5 78.5 78.8 78.7 78.3 78.2 2.2
Previous estimates             78.5 78.6 78.9 78.8 78.2    
       
Manufacturing (see note below) 78.3 85.6 77.3 84.6 63.7 75.7 76.2 75.8 75.9 76.2 75.8 75.4 1.4
Previous estimates             76.1 75.9 76.0 76.5 75.8    
Mining 87.1 86.3 84.3 88.6 78.2 89.5 94.2 93.9 94.4 95.2 94.9 94.6 6.4
Utilities 85.2 92.9 84.4 92.9 78.3 73.6 76.9 79.4 81.1 76.8 75.9 78.6 2.1
       
Stage-of-process groups
Crude 86.1 87.8 84.7 90.0 76.4 86.9 92.0 91.5 91.9 92.7 92.1 91.8 4.7
Primary and semifinished 80.3 86.5 78.1 87.7 63.8 75.5 76.0 76.5 77.2 76.3 75.9 76.1 1.5
Finished 76.8 83.4 77.3 80.7 66.6 75.2 75.8 75.3 75.2 75.7 75.2 75.0 1.3
r Revised. p Preliminary.
Market Groups

The major market groups recorded mixed results in February: Increases for materials, for business supplies, and for defense and space equipment were accompanied by decreases for consumer goods, for business equipment, and for construction supplies. The output of consumer goods just edged down, reflecting a small drop in non-energy nondurable goods. The index for business equipment fell more substantially, with losses for transit equipment and for industrial and other equipment. The increase for materials reflected gains for both durable materials and energy materials; the output of nondurable materials fell.

Industry Groups

Manufacturing output decreased 0.4 percent in February after falling 0.5 percent in January. In February, the index stood 1.0 percent above its year-earlier level. The output of durables edged down. Losses of 1 1/2 percent or more were registered by nonmetallic mineral products, by machinery, and by furniture and related products, while gains of more than 1 percent were registered by computer and electronics products, by aerospace and miscellaneous transportation equipment, and by miscellaneous manufacturing. Nondurable goods production fell 0.7 percent. Most major nondurable goods industries posted decreases; the only increases were recorded by paper and by food, beverage, and tobacco products. Production of other manufacturing (publishing and logging) increased 0.5 percent but remained well below its year-earlier level.

The output of utilities rose 3.7 percent in February; the output of electric utilities rebounded from decreases in the previous two months. Mining output moved up 0.3 percent for its 13th consecutive monthly increase, and the index was 12.5 percent above its level of a year earlier.

Capacity utilization for manufacturing declined 0.4 percentage point in February to 75.4 percent, almost 3 percentage points below its long-run average, with losses for durables and for nondurables but a gain for other manufacturing (publishing and logging). The utilization rate for mining decreased to 94.6 percent but remained well above its long-run average of 87.1 percent. The rate for utilities jumped to 78.6 percent, but it was still nearly 7 percentage points below its long-run average.

Revision of Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization

The Federal Reserve Board plans to issue its annual revision to the index of industrial production (IP) and the related measures of capacity utilization on March 27, 2019, at noon EDT. The Economic Census for 2017 will not be available from the U.S. Census Bureau by early 2019, so no new annual benchmark data will be included for manufacturing. Other annual data, including information on the mining of metallic and nonmetallic minerals (except fuels), will be incorporated. 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 through the fourth quarter of 2018 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: March 15, 2019