INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION AND CAPACITY UTILIZATION
Industrial production decreased 0.2 percent in January after upwardly revised gains of 0.9 percent in
December and 1.1 percent in November. The output of utilities plummeted 10.1 percent in January as a
result of the unseasonably warm temperatures. This drop is the largest monthly decline recorded in the
thirty-four-year history of the index. Elsewhere, however, production expanded in January. Mining output
climbed 1.7 percent, and manufacturing production rose 0.7 percent after increases of 0.5 percent in
December and 0.7 percent in November; the gains in manufacturing in November and December have both been
revised up 0.3 percentage point. At 110.3 percent of its 2002 average, overall industrial output in
January was 3.1 percent above its January 2005 level. Because of the drop in utilities output, the rate of
capacity utilization for total industry decreased 0.3 percentage point, to 80.9 percent, just below its
1972-2005 average. Capacity utilization in manufacturing moved up in January to 80.5 percent, a rate 0.7
percentage point above its 1972-2005 average.
| Industrial production |
2002=100 | Percent change | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 2006 Jan. |
2005 | 2006 Jan. |
Jan. '05 to Jan. '06 |
|||||
| Oct. | Nov. | Dec. | Oct. | Nov. | Dec. | ||||
| Total index | 108.4 | 109.5 | 110.5 | 110.3 | 1.1 | 1.1 | .9 | -.2 | 3.1 |
| Previous estimates | 108.2 | 109.1 | 109.8 | 1.0 | .8 | .6 | |||
| Major market groups | |||||||||
| Final Products | 111.5 | 111.7 | 112.1 | 111.9 | 1.9 | .2 | .3 | -.1 | 4.3 |
| Consumer goods | 106.5 | 105.9 | 106.2 | 105.8 | .1 | -.5 | .3 | -.4 | 1.8 |
| Business equipment | 123.1 | 125.5 | 126.3 | 127.5 | 7.0 | 2.0 | .7 | .9 | 10.7 |
| Nonindustrial supplies | 109.6 | 110.4 | 111.2 | 110.1 | 1.1 | .8 | .7 | -1.0 | 3.4 |
| Construction | 112.4 | 113.5 | 113.5 | 113.5 | 2.3 | 1.1 | .0 | .0 | 7.1 |
| Materials | 104.9 | 107.1 | 108.8 | 108.6 | .4 | 2.1 | 1.6 | -.1 | 1.8 |
| Major industry groups | |||||||||
| Manufacturing (see note below) | 110.9 | 111.7 | 112.2 | 113.0 | 1.8 | .7 | .5 | .7 | 4.5 |
| Previous estimates | 110.9 | 111.4 | 111.6 | 1.8 | .4 | .2 | |||
| Mining | 89.1 | 93.9 | 96.5 | 98.1 | -1.3 | 5.4 | 2.8 | 1.7 | -1.8 |
| Utilities | 105.9 | 106.2 | 109.2 | 98.1 | -2.0 | .3 | 2.8 | -10.1 | -4.7 |
| Capacity utilization |
Percent of capacity |
Capacity growth Jan. '05 to Jan. '06 |
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average 1972-2005 |
1994-95 High |
2001-02 Low |
2005 Jan. |
2005 | 2006 Jan. |
||||
| Oct. | Nov. | Dec. | |||||||
| Total industry | 81.0 | 85.0 | 73.9 | 79.8 | 79.9 | 80.6 | 81.2 | 80.9 | 1.7 |
| Previous estimates | 79.8 | 80.3 | 80.7 | ||||||
| Manufacturing (see note below) | 79.8 | 84.5 | 72.0 | 78.6 | 79.4 | 79.8 | 80.1 | 80.5 | 2.2 |
| Previous estimates | 79.5 | 79.6 | 79.6 | ||||||
| Mining | 87.3 | 89.0 | 85.6 | 88.9 | 79.6 | 83.9 | 86.2 | 87.7 | -.4 |
| Utilities | 86.7 | 93.7 | 83.7 | 83.7 | 86.2 | 86.5 | 89.0 | 79.9 | -.2 |
| Stage-of-process groups | |||||||||
| Crude | 86.4 | 89.4 | 83.2 | 88.2 | 78.2 | 82.4 | 84.6 | 86.2 | -.8 |
| Primary and semifinished | 82.1 | 88.1 | 74.6 | 81.7 | 82.2 | 82.7 | 83.3 | 81.8 | 2.6 |
| Finished | 77.9 | 80.5 | 70.8 | 75.6 | 78.2 | 78.2 | 78.3 | 78.8 | 1.3 |
Market Groups
The output of consumer goods moved down 0.4 percent in January; a drop of 7.0 percent in the production of nondurable consumer energy goods more than accounted for the decline. The production of consumer durables increased 1.3 percent and was bolstered by jumps in the indexes for home electronics; appliances, furniture, and carpeting; and automotive products. The output of non-energy nondurable consumer goods advanced 0.6 percent. The indexes for paper products, chemical products, clothing, and foods and tobacco all moved up for the second month in a row.
The production of business equipment rose 0.9 percent to a level that was 10.7 percent above its year-ago level. All of the major categories of business equipment contributed significantly to the overall increase; the largest increase, of 2.6 percent, was in transit equipment. After three months of increases, the index for defense and space equipment declined 0.7 percent and now stands nearly 8 percent above its year-ago level. Production of business supplies fell 1.4 percent, held down by a drop in commercial energy products; production of non-energy business supplies increased 0.8 percent. The index for construction supplies was unchanged for a second consecutive month after three months of large increases.
The production of industrial materials inched down in January. A drop of 1.3 percent in the output of energy materials was mostly offset by a gain of 0.5 percent in the output of nondurable materials and an increase of 0.4 percent in durable materials; the indexes for equipment parts, consumer parts, chemicals, and textiles all rose.
Industry Groups
Manufacturing production increased 0.7 percent in January and was 4.5 percent higher than it was in January 2005. The factory operating rate, at 80.5 percent, was the highest since July 2000. The output of durable goods rose 0.7 percent; significant increases were registered in electrical equipment, appliances, and components; motor vehicles and parts; and miscellaneous manufacturing. Durable goods industries with decreases in output in January included wood products, machinery, and primary metals. The production of nondurable goods rose 0.7 percent. Industries with output gains of 1 percent or more were petroleum and coal products, textile and product mills, and chemicals. Food, beverage, and tobacco products; printing and support; and plastics and rubber products posted small gains. Paper was the only nondurable industry with decreased output; production in this industry reversed some of the previous month�s gain. Production in the non-NAICS manufacturing industries (logging and publishing) rose 1.0 percent after a gain of 0.8 percent in December.
Capacity utilization for industries in the crude stage of processing rose 1.6 percentage points, to 86.2
percent, a rate just 0.2 percentage point below its 1972-2005 average. For industries in the primary and
semifinished stages, the utilization rate declined 1.5 percentage points, to 81.8 percent, as a result of
the drop in utilities output. For finished goods producers, the utilization rate increased 0.5 percentage
point, to 78.8 percent, a rate that is nearly 1 percentage point above its 1972-2005 average of 77.9
percent.
Notice
The data in this release include preliminary estimates of industrial capacity for 2006. Total industrial
capacity is projected to expand 2.0 percent in 2006, nearly one-half percentage point faster than in 2005
but considerably less than the average gain of 3.4 percent over the past ten years. Manufacturing capacity
is estimated to rise 2.5 percent after having expanded 2.1 percent in 2005; this acceleration primarily
reflects a step-up in the pace of expansion outside of the high-technology industries. In 2006, as a
result of small gains in electricity-generating capability, capacity at utilities is expected to increase
0.7 percent after being unchanged in 2005. Capacity at mines is expected to contract 0.9 percent.
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 | 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)
