INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION AND CAPACITY UTILIZATION

Industrial production increased 0.4 percent in May after a decline of 0.3 percent in April. Manufacturing output rose 0.6 percent in May. Mining production edged up 0.1 percent, and the output of utilities declined 0.7 percent. At 118.6 percent of the 1997 average, overall industrial output was 2.7 percent above its May 2004 level. The rate of capacity utilization for total industry rose 0.3 percentage point, to 79.4 percent, a rate 1.6 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 increased 0.5 percent in May. The production of durable consumer goods rose 0.9 percent, as the output of automotive products and of appliances, furniture, and carpeting recovered in part from their sharp declines in April. The index of consumer nondurable goods advanced 0.4 percent and was led by gains in the output of paper products and of food and tobacco; the output of clothing fell 2.3 percent. The production of consumer energy products edged down 0.1 percent.

The production of business equipment moved up 0.8 percent; the increase was led by a rise of 1.9 percent in the index for information processing equipment. The output of industrial and other equipment advanced 0.4 percent, and the production of transit equipment was unchanged. Continuing a recent series of strong gains, defense and space equipment production advanced 1.1 percent in May. The production of non-industrial supplies edged up 0.2 percent for the month. The index of construction supplies advanced 0.3 percent, and the output of business supplies rose 0.1 percent.

Materials output advanced 0.3 percent. The index for non-energy materials rose 0.5 percent, and the index for energy materials edged down 0.1 percent. Within durable materials, increases in the output of equipment parts and of other materials more than offset further declines in the output of consumer parts. Within the nondurable category, all major components posted gains. The output of paper materials rose 1.1 percent after a large decline in April.

Industry Groups

Manufacturing output increased 0.6 percent in May, and the factory operating rate rose 0.3 percentage point, to 78.2 percent. Among durable goods, declines in the production of miscellaneous manufacturing and in the production of furniture and related products were more than offset by gains in other durable goods categories. The production of computer and electronic products advanced 2.1 percent, in part as a result of a jump of 3.6 percent in the production of communications equipment. The indexes for wood products; primary metals; fabricated metal products; machinery; electrical equipment, appliances and components; and aerospace and miscellaneous transportation equipment also posted gains. The production of motor vehicles and parts was unchanged after substantial declines in March and April; vehicle assemblies edged down to an annual rate of 11.4 million units. The output of nondurable goods advanced 0.4 percent. All categories reported solid gains except plastics and rubber products, which decreased 0.4 percent, and apparel and leather, which fell 1.9 percent. The production of non-NAICS manufacturing (logging and publishing) advanced 1.0 percent.

The output of mines edged up 0.1 percent, and the operating rate in mining rose 0.2 percentage point, to 88.5 percent. The output of coal mines posted a decrease of 1.6 percent, a second consecutive drop; offsetting increases came from oil and gas extraction, metal ore mining, and nonmetallic mineral mining. The output of utilities fell 0.7 percent, and the operating rate for utilities fell 0.7 percentage point, to 83.4 percent.

Capacity utilization rose for all stages of processing. The operating rate for industries in the crude stage increased 0.4 percentage point, to 87.0 percent, a rate that is 0.6 percentage point above its 1972-2004 average. Capacity utilization for industries in the primary and semifinished stages edged up 0.1 percentage point, to 80.0 percent, and the utilization rate for finished-goods producers rose 0.4 percentage point, to 77.1 percent. Capacity utilization in the primary and semifinished group and in the finished-goods group remained below their respective long-run averages.

Notice: This release includes updated estimates of industrial capacity in 2005. The estimated rate of change in total industrial capacity between the fourth quarter of 2004 and the fourth quarter of 2005 was revised down 0.1 percentage point, to a gain of 1.2 percent; the estimated rate of change in manufacturing capacity was revised down similarly.

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