INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION AND CAPACITY UTILIZATION

Industrial production fell 0.2 percent in April after an increase of 0.1 percent in March. Revisions altered the previously published pattern of output for January through March, but industrial output in the first quarter is still reported to have risen at an annual rate of 3.6 percent. In April, the output indexes for manufacturing and mining were unchanged, and the output of utilities dropped 2.3 percent. At 118.3 percent of the 1997 average, overall industrial output was 3.1 percent above its April 2004 level. The rate of capacity utilization for total industry fell 0.2 percentage point, to 79.2 percent, a rate 1.8 percentage points below its 1972-2004 average.

r  Revised.  p  Preliminary.

       The statistics in this release cover output, capacity, and capacity utilization in the

industrial sector, which the Federal Reserve defines as manufacturing, mining, and electric and

gas utilities.  Manufacturing comprises those industries included in the North American Industry

Classification System, or NAICS, manufacturing plus the logging and newspaper, periodical,

book and directory publishing industries that have traditionally been considered manufacturing and included

in the industrial sector.

Market Groups

The output of consumer goods fell 0.9 percent in April. The production of durable goods dropped 2.1 percent, largely as a result of steep declines in the output of automotive products and in the production of appliances, furniture, and carpeting. The index of consumer nondurable goods fell 0.4 percent; a drop of 2.5 percent in the energy component more than offset gains elsewhere. All categories of nondurable non-energy goods advanced except paper products.

The production of business equipment moved up 0.8 percent. The index for industrial and other equipment and the index for information processing equipment each increased about 1.0 percent. The output of transit equipment fell 0.4 percent. The production of defense and space equipment jumped 1.6 percent and was more than 9 percent above its year-ago level. In April, the production of non-industrial supplies was, on balance, unchanged. The index of construction supplies advanced 0.5 percent, and the output of business supplies moved down 0.2 percent.

The production of materials edged down 0.1 percent. The index for energy materials fell 0.6 percent, and the index for non-energy materials edged up 0.1 percent. In the durable materials component, the output of consumer parts tumbled 2.4 percent; the output of other materials also moved down. After little change in March, production of equipment parts rose 1.6 percent in April because of gains in the output of semiconductors and computer parts. Within the nondurable category, the producers of paper materials and of chemical materials posted gains; the output of textile materials declined 1.8 percent.

Industry Groups

Manufacturing production was unchanged in April, and the factory operating rate edged down 0.1 percentage point, to 77.9 percent. Under durable goods, in which overall output was also unchanged, the production of motor vehicles and parts fell 3.5 percent. The indexes for wood products, primary metals, and furniture and related products also posted declines, but production rose noticeably in machinery, computer and electronic products, and aerospace and miscellaneous transportation equipment. The production of nondurable goods advanced 0.2 percent in April and the gains were widespread. The output of apparel and leather rose 0.9 percent, but this index was down 8.8 percent over the past twelve months. The production of non-NAICS manufacturing (logging and publishing) decreased 0.8 percent; it had increased at an annual rate of 10.9 percent in the first quarter.

The output of mines was unchanged in April; the operating rate in mining edged up 0.1 percentage point, to 88.9 percent. Oil and gas extraction ticked up after having increased at an annual rate of 9.1 percent in the first quarter, but the output of coal mines fell 2.0 percent. Decreases in the output of both electric and gas utilities contributed to a decline of 2.3 percent in utility output and to a decline of 2 percentage points in the utilities operating rate, to 83.7 percent. Capacity utilization for industries in the crude stage of processing increased 0.3 percentage point, to 87.3 percent, a rate that is 0.9 percentage point above its 1972-2004 average. However, the operating rate for industries in the primary and semifinished stages fell 0.5 percentage point, to 79.8 percent, and the utilization rate for finished goods producers declined 0.1 percentage point, to 76.7 percent. Capacity utilization in both these industry groups remained below their respective long-run averages.

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: Electric Power Use: Manufacturing and Mining
Ascii	Screen reader	Table 12: Historical Statistics for IP, Capacity, and Utilization: Total Industry
Ascii	Screen reader	Table 13: Historical Statistics for IP, Capacity, and Utilization: Manufacturing
Ascii	Screen reader	Table 14: Historical Statistics for IP, Capacity, and Utilization: Total Industry excluding Selected High-Technology Industries
Ascii	Screen reader	Table 15: Historical Statistics for IP, Capacity, and Utilization: Manufacturing excluding Selected High-Technology Industries

Release dates | Historical data | 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)

Statistical releases