Federal Reserve Statistical Release, G.17, Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization; title with eagle logo links to Statistical Release home page
Release Date: February 17, 2010
Release dates | Documentation
Current Monthly Release   Other formats: ASCII | PDF (144 KB)
Supplemental Monthly Release   Other formats: ASCII | PDF (144 KB)
Annual Revision Release   Other formats: ASCII | PDF (150 KB)
Data Download Program (DDP) | Announcements | Historical data (text files)


INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION AND CAPACITY UTILIZATION
[Annual Revision Notice Below]

Industrial production increased 0.9 percent in January following a gain of 0.7 percent in December. Manufacturing production rose 1.0 percent in January, with increases for most of its major components, while the indexes for both utilities and mining advanced 0.7 percent. At 101.1 percent of its 2002 average, output in January was 0.9 percent above its year-earlier level. The capacity utilization rate for total industry rose 0.7 percentage point to 72.6 percent, a rate 8.0 percentage points below its average from 1972 to 2009.

INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION AND CAPACITY UTILIZATION: SUMMARY
Seasonally adjusted
 
 
Industrial production
2002=100 Percent change
2009 2010
Jan.[p]
2009 2010
Jan.[p]
Jan. '09 to
Jan. '10
Aug.[r] Sept.[r] Oct.[r] Nov.[r] Dec.[r] Aug.[r] Sept.[r] Oct.[r] Nov.[r] Dec.[r]
       
Total index   98.1   98.7   98.9   99.5  100.1  101.1    1.2     .6     .2     .6     .7     .9     .9
   Previous estimates   98.3   98.9   99.1   99.7  100.3          1.3     .6     .2     .6     .6    
       
Major market groups      
Final Products  101.3  102.1  102.9  102.6  103.5  104.7    1.2     .8     .8    -.3     .8    1.2    1.2
   Consumer goods   98.5   99.5  100.3  100.0  100.7  101.8    1.2    1.0     .9    -.3     .7    1.1    3.2
   Business equipment  108.8  108.6  109.2  108.9  110.3  111.4    1.4    -.2     .6    -.3    1.3     .9   -3.8
Nonindustrial supplies   91.0   90.8   90.5   91.3   91.8   92.4     .3    -.3    -.3     .9     .5     .7   -2.4
   Construction   82.9   81.8   80.6   81.9   80.5   81.2     .5   -1.4   -1.4    1.6   -1.7    1.0   -5.3
Materials   97.9   98.5   98.4   99.7  100.2  101.0    1.5     .7    -.1    1.4     .5     .8    2.0
       
Major industry groups      
Manufacturing (see note below)   97.1   97.7   97.6   98.5   98.5   99.4    1.2     .6    -.1    1.0    -.1    1.0    1.7
   Previous estimates   97.3   98.0   97.8   98.7   98.7          1.4     .7    -.1     .9    -.1    
Mining   97.0   96.8   96.8   98.8   98.7   99.4    2.0    -.1     .0    2.1    -.2     .7   -3.3
Utilities  103.4  104.1  106.8  103.6  110.1  110.9     .6     .6    2.6   -3.0    6.3     .7    -.6


 
 
 
 
Capacity utilization
 
Percent of capacity
Capacity
growth
Average
1972-
2009
1988-
89
high
1990-
91
low
1994-
95
high
2001-
02
low
 
2009
Jan.
   
2009 2010
Jan.[p]
Jan. '09 to
Jan. '10
Aug.[r] Sept.[r] Oct.[r] Nov.[r] Dec.[r]
       
Total industry   80.6   85.1   78.7   84.9   73.5   71.1   70.1   70.6   70.9   71.3   71.9   72.6   -1.1
   Previous estimates                                       70.2   70.8   71.0   71.5   72.0            
       
Manufacturing (see note below)   79.2   85.4   77.2   84.5   71.4   67.1   67.1   67.6   67.6   68.4   68.4   69.2   -1.4
   Previous estimates                                       67.2   67.8   67.8   68.5   68.6            
Mining   87.5   86.5   83.8   89.1   84.9   88.4   83.8   83.8   83.9   85.7   85.7   86.2    -.9
Utilities   86.6   92.8   84.2   93.3   84.2   85.1   78.2   78.5   80.4   77.9   82.7   83.1    1.9
       
Stage-of-process groups      
Crude   86.5   88.3   84.7   89.9   81.7   81.5   82.7   83.6   83.3   84.8   85.2   85.9   -1.4
Primary and semifinished   81.6   86.5   77.9   87.9   74.3   69.7   67.1   67.5   67.9   68.1   69.0   69.4   -1.1
Finished   77.5   83.0   77.2   80.3   70.0   68.5   68.7   69.2   69.4   69.8   70.1   71.0    -.7
r Revised. p Preliminary

Market Groups

The production of consumer goods increased 1.1 percent in January, as the production index for consumer durables advanced 2.7 percent and the index for consumer nondurables rose 0.7 percent. For durables, increases in all of its major categories contributed to the gain; the largest contributor was automotive products, which moved up 5.1 percent. Among consumer nondurables, the output of non-energy goods rose 1.1 percent, but the output of energy goods decreased 0.5 percent. The largest gains in production among the major categories of non-energy nondurable goods were for clothing and for foods and tobacco. The decrease for energy goods reflected a drop in gasoline production; residential sales by utilities were little changed.

The output of business equipment rose 0.9 percent in January, but it remained 3.8 percent below its year-earlier level. All of its major component indexes advanced: Industrial and other equipment gained 0.5 percent, transit equipment rose 0.9 percent, and information processing equipment increased 1.7 percent. January marked the third consecutive monthly gain in output of more than 1 percent for information processing equipment.

The production of defense and space equipment moved up 1.5 percent in January after having declined in each of the previous three months.

Within nonindustrial supplies, the output of construction supplies rose 1.0 percent in January but was 5.3 percent below its year-earlier level. The production of business supplies advanced 0.5 percent in January for its eighth consecutive monthly increase.

The production of materials moved up 0.8 percent in January and has averaged gains since June 2009 of about 0.9 percent per month. The index for durable materials rose 1.3 percent in January, with similarly sized gains for all of its major components. Production of nondurable materials advanced 0.8 percent. Among nondurables, the index for chemical materials rose 0.7 percent, primarily because of an increase in the production of organic chemicals. The output of energy materials edged up 0.1 percent.

Industry Groups

In January, manufacturing output rose 1.0 percent after having slipped 0.1 percent in December; the level of output in January was 1.7 percent above its year-earlier level. Capacity utilization for manufacturing was 69.2 percent, a rate 4.1 percentage points above the trough in June 2009 but 10.0 percentage points below its average for the period from 1972 to 2009.

The output of durable goods moved up 1.4 percent in January. Among its major components, gains of 2.0 percent or more were recorded for motor vehicles and parts; wood products; electrical equipment, appliances, and components; and nonmetallic mineral products. Output for all of the other major durable goods industries increased, with the exception of furniture and related products, which decreased 1.2 percent.

Nondurable manufacturing rose 0.7 percent in January, after having edged down in December, and was 3.6 percent above its year-earlier level. Gains were recorded for most major components, with particularly large increases for food, beverage, and tobacco products and for apparel and leather products. The output of petroleum and coal products decreased 2.2 percent, and the output of printing and support moved down 0.8 percent. The index for non-NAICS manufacturing industries (publishing and logging) was unchanged.

In January, mining output gained 0.7 percent and capacity utilization rose to 86.2 percent, a rate 1.3 percentage points below its 1972-2009 average. After a sizable jump in December, the output of utilities increased 0.7 percent in January, as an increase in electric utilities was partly offset by a decline in natural gas utilities. The utilization rate for utilities rose to 83.1 percent.

Capacity utilization rates in January at industries grouped by stage of process were as follows: At the crude stage, utilization increased 0.7 percentage point to 85.9 percent, a rate 0.6 percentage point below its 1972-2009 average; at the primary and semifinished stages, utilization rose 0.4 percentage point to 69.4 percent, a rate 12.2 percentage points below its long-run average; and at the finished stage, utilization increased 0.9 percentage point to 71.0 percent, a rate 6.5 percentage points below its long-run average.

Note: Preliminary Estimates of Industrial Capacity

The data in this release include preliminary estimates of industrial capacity for 2010. Measured fourth quarter to fourth quarter, total industrial capacity is projected to decrease 0.8 percent this year after having declined 0.9 percent in 2009. Manufacturing capacity is estimated to decline 1.0 percent in 2010 following a decrease of 1.2 percent last year. Mining capacity is estimated to move up 0.3 percent in 2010 after having declined 0.7 percent in 2009, and utilities capacity is projected to expand 2.1 percent this year, which is 0.3 percentage point faster than it had last year. These estimates will be updated with the publication in late June 2010 of the annual revision to industrial production, capacity, and capacity utilization.

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 in late June 2010. The revised IP indexes will incorporate detailed data from the 2007 Economic Census and the 2008 Annual Survey of Manufactures (ASM), both conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. Data from selected editions of the Census Bureau's 2008 Current Industrial Reports will also be incorporated, as will annual data from the U.S. Geological Survey regarding metallic and nonmetallic minerals (except fuels) for 2008. The updating will include revisions to the monthly indicator (either product data or input data) and to seasonal factors for each industry. The annual revision will also introduce changes in the estimation methods for some series. Any changes 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 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.

Once the revision is published, it will be available on the Board's website at www.federalreserve.gov/releases/G17. The revised data will also be available through the website of the Department of Commerce. 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:

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




Release dates | Documentation
Current Monthly Release   Other formats: ASCII | PDF (144 KB)
Supplemental Monthly Release   Other formats: ASCII | PDF (144 KB)
Annual Revision Release   Other formats: ASCII | PDF (150 KB)
Data Download Program (DDP) | Announcements | Historical data (text files)

Statistical releases