DDP
PrintIndustrial Production and Capacity Utilization - G.17
Current Release (272 KB PDF) (ASCII)
Industrial production edged up 0.1 percent in September after falling 0.5 percent in August. For the third quarter as a whole, industrial production rose at an annual rate of 1.8 percent for its first quarterly increase since the third quarter of 2015. Manufacturing output increased 0.2 percent in September and moved up at an annual rate of 0.9 percent in the third quarter. In September, the index for utilities declined 1.0 percent; mining posted a gain of 0.4 percent, which partially reversed its August decline. At 104.2 percent of its 2012 average, total industrial production in September was 1.0 percent lower than its year-earlier level. Capacity utilization for the industrial sector edged up 0.1 percentage point in September to 75.4 percent, a rate that is 4.6 percentage points below its long-run (1972–2015) average.
Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization: Summary
| Industrial production | 2012=100 | Percent change | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 2016 | Sept. '15 to Sept. '16 |
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| Apr.[r] | May[r] | June[r] | July[r] | Aug.[r] | Sept.[p] | Apr.[r] | May[r] | June[r] | July[r] | Aug.[r] | Sept.[p] | ||
| Total index | 103.8 | 103.7 | 104.2 | 104.7 | 104.2 | 104.2 | .4 | -.2 | .5 | .5 | -.5 | .1 | -1.0 |
| Previous estimates | 103.9 | 103.7 | 104.3 | 104.9 | 104.4 | .5 | -.2 | .5 | .6 | -.4 | |||
| Major market groups | |||||||||||||
| Final Products | 100.7 | 100.4 | 101.0 | 101.2 | 101.0 | 101.1 | 1.1 | -.3 | .6 | .3 | -.2 | .1 | -.2 |
| Consumer goods | 103.6 | 103.2 | 103.9 | 104.3 | 104.1 | 104.3 | 1.4 | -.4 | .7 | .4 | -.2 | .2 | .8 |
| Business equipment | 102.2 | 102.0 | 102.6 | 102.7 | 102.1 | 101.9 | 1.0 | -.2 | .6 | .1 | -.5 | -.2 | -1.4 |
| Nonindustrial supplies | 105.5 | 105.1 | 105.1 | 105.8 | 104.6 | 105.3 | .0 | -.3 | .0 | .7 | -1.2 | .7 | .3 |
| Construction | 110.0 | 109.2 | 108.5 | 109.6 | 108.1 | 109.0 | -.2 | -.8 | -.6 | 1.0 | -1.4 | .8 | 1.3 |
| Materials | 105.7 | 105.7 | 106.5 | 107.1 | 106.5 | 106.3 | -.2 | .0 | .7 | .6 | -.6 | -.2 | -2.2 |
| Major industry groups | |||||||||||||
| Manufacturing (see note below) | 103.0 | 102.8 | 103.0 | 103.5 | 102.9 | 103.1 | .1 | -.2 | .2 | .4 | -.5 | .2 | .0 |
| Previous estimates | 103.0 | 102.8 | 103.0 | 103.4 | 103.0 | .1 | -.2 | .2 | .4 | -.4 | |||
| Mining | 102.9 | 103.7 | 103.8 | 104.9 | 103.9 | 104.3 | -3.2 | .8 | .1 | 1.1 | -1.0 | .4 | -9.4 |
| Utilities | 102.3 | 101.8 | 104.8 | 105.1 | 104.9 | 103.8 | 6.2 | -.5 | 2.9 | .3 | -.3 | -1.0 | -.4 |
| Capacity utilization | Percent of capacity | Capacity growth |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average 1972- 2015 |
1988- 89 high |
1990- 91 low |
1994- 95 high |
2009 low |
2015 Sept. |
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| 2016 | Sept. '15 to Sept. '16 |
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| Apr.[r] | May[r] | June[r] | July[r] | Aug.[r] | Sept.[p] | ||||||||
| Total industry | 80.0 | 85.3 | 78.8 | 85.0 | 66.7 | 76.4 | 75.2 | 75.1 | 75.4 | 75.8 | 75.3 | 75.4 | .4 |
| Previous estimates | 75.2 | 75.1 | 75.5 | 75.9 | 75.5 | ||||||||
| Manufacturing (see note below) | 78.5 | 85.6 | 77.3 | 84.6 | 63.8 | 75.5 | 75.0 | 74.8 | 75.0 | 75.2 | 74.8 | 74.9 | .7 |
| Previous estimates | 75.1 | 74.8 | 75.0 | 75.2 | 74.8 | ||||||||
| Mining | 87.3 | 86.2 | 83.8 | 88.6 | 79.0 | 81.0 | 73.2 | 74.0 | 74.4 | 75.5 | 75.0 | 75.5 | -2.9 |
| Utilities | 85.8 | 93.2 | 84.7 | 93.2 | 78.2 | 80.0 | 78.2 | 77.8 | 80.0 | 80.2 | 80.0 | 79.1 | .7 |
| Stage-of-process groups | |||||||||||||
| Crude | 86.3 | 87.6 | 84.5 | 90.1 | 77.0 | 80.0 | 74.2 | 75.0 | 75.3 | 76.2 | 75.7 | 75.9 | -2.2 |
| Primary and semifinished | 80.6 | 86.5 | 78.1 | 87.8 | 63.8 | 76.3 | 75.3 | 75.0 | 75.7 | 76.0 | 75.5 | 75.4 | .9 |
| Finished | 77.0 | 83.4 | 77.3 | 80.6 | 66.6 | 75.4 | 75.3 | 75.1 | 75.2 | 75.3 | 75.0 | 75.1 | .7 |
Market Groups
The output of consumer goods rose 0.2 percent in September. The production of consumer durables advanced 0.6 percent, with nearly all of its major components recording increases. The index for consumer non-energy nondurables moved up 0.2 percent, reflecting gains for chemical products and clothing, but the output of consumer energy products dropped 1.0 percent. Business equipment posted a decline of 0.2 percent as a result of decreases for both transit equipment and information processing equipment. The output of defense and space equipment moved down 0.4 percent. Construction supplies and business supplies each recorded an increase of about 3/4 percent in September that partially reversed a larger loss in August. The production of materials fell 0.2 percent in September, as declines in durable materials and energy materials outweighed a gain for nondurable materials. The decrease for durable materials reflected reductions for both consumer parts and equipment parts. The improvement for nondurable materials was broadly based.
Industry Groups
Manufacturing output rose 0.2 percent in September and was unchanged from its year-earlier level. In September, the production of durables remained unchanged, the production of nondurables increased 0.5 percent, and the production of other manufacturing (publishing and logging) fell 0.8 percent. Within durables, declines registered by primary metals, by machinery, and by aerospace and miscellaneous transportation equipment were offset by gains elsewhere. All of the major categories within nondurables posted increases; the largest gains, of about 1 1/2 percent, were recorded by printing and support and by petroleum and coal products.
The index for mining moved up 0.4 percent in September. Gains for oil and gas well drilling and servicing, for coal mining, and for nonmetallic mineral mining and quarrying outweighed a drop in crude oil extraction. The output of mining increased at an annual rate of 3.7 percent in the third quarter following six consecutive quarterly decreases.
Capacity utilization for manufacturing increased 0.1 percentage point in September to 74.9 percent, a rate that is 3.6 percentage points below its long-run average. The operating rate for nondurables advanced 0.3 percentage point to 74.7 percent, while the rates for durables and other manufacturing (publishing and logging) fell to 75.8 percent and 62.2 percent, respectively. The operating rate for mining moved up 0.5 percentage point to 75.5 percent, and the rate for utilities fell 0.9 percentage point to 79.1 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.
