Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization - G.17

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Release Date: March 17, 2023
The annual revision to industrial production and capacity utilization was published on March 28, 2023. Data referred to in the release dated March 17, 2023, were superseded by the data issued at the time of the annual revision. Information on the annual revision to industrial production and capacity utilization appears below.

Industrial production was unchanged in February, and manufacturing output edged up 0.1 percent. The index for mining fell 0.6 percent, while the index for utilities rose 0.5 percent. At 102.6 percent of its 2017 average, total industrial production in February was 0.2 percent below its year-earlier level. Capacity utilization was unchanged in February at 78.0 percent, a rate that is 1.6 percentage points below its long-run (1972–2022) average.

Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization: Summary
Seasonally adjusted
Industrial production 2017=100 Percent change
2022 2023 2022 2023 Feb. '22 to
Feb. '23
Sept.[r] Oct.[r] Nov.[r] Dec.[r] Jan.[r] Feb.[p] Sept.[r] Oct.[r] Nov.[r] Dec.[r] Jan.[r] Feb.[p]
       
Total index 104.5 104.4 103.8 102.4 102.6 102.6 .2 -.1 -.6 -1.4 .3 .0 -.2
Previous estimates 104.6 104.6 104.0 102.9 103.0   .2 .0 -.6 -1.0 .0    
       
Major market groups
Final Products 104.7 105.2 104.6 103.8 103.8 103.8 -.2 .5 -.6 -.7 .0 .0 .2
Consumer goods 104.1 104.7 104.3 104.0 103.5 103.6 -.5 .7 -.4 -.3 -.5 .1 -.9
Business equipment 98.4 98.6 97.4 95.6 96.7 96.6 .4 .2 -1.2 -1.9 1.2 -.2 1.4
Nonindustrial supplies 101.9 101.8 101.5 99.6 100.1 99.8 .1 -.1 -.3 -1.8 .4 -.3 -3.0
Construction 104.2 104.1 103.4 102.0 103.6 103.1 .1 -.1 -.7 -1.4 1.6 -.5 -2.6
Materials 105.2 104.6 103.9 102.1 102.5 102.6 .5 -.6 -.7 -1.7 .5 .1 .3
       
Major industry groups
Manufacturing (see note below) 101.5 101.7 100.9 98.8 100.1 100.2 .0 .2 -.8 -2.1 1.3 .1 -1.0
Previous estimates 101.5 101.9 101.1 99.3 100.2   .1 .4 -.8 -1.8 1.0    
Mining 119.1 119.0 117.3 114.7 117.0 116.3 1.8 -.1 -1.4 -2.2 2.0 -.6 7.1
Utilities 104.2 101.6 104.4 109.9 98.8 99.3 -2.1 -2.5 2.8 5.3 -10.1 .5 -7.6

Capacity utilization Percent of capacity Capacity
growth
Average
1972-
2022 		1988-
89
high 		1990-
91
low 		1994-
95
high 		 
2009
low 		 
2022
Feb. 		   
2022 2023 Feb. '22 to
Feb. '23
Sept.[r] Oct.[r] Nov.[r] Dec.[r] Jan.[r] Feb.[p]
       
Total industry 79.6 85.2 78.8 85.0 66.6 79.4 79.9 79.7 79.1 77.9 78.0 78.0 1.6
Previous estimates             79.9 79.8 79.3 78.4 78.3    
       
Manufacturing (see note below) 78.2 85.6 77.3 84.7 63.4 79.2 79.0 79.1 78.4 76.7 77.7 77.6 1.0
Previous estimates             79.0 79.2 78.5 77.1 77.7    
Mining 86.3 86.2 84.3 88.6 78.9 83.9 89.9 89.7 88.3 86.3 87.9 87.3 2.9
Utilities 84.5 92.9 84.5 92.9 78.0 76.5 73.1 71.1 72.9 76.6 68.7 68.9 2.6
       
Stage-of-process groups
Crude 85.5 87.9 84.8 90.0 76.9 83.4 87.5 87.2 86.0 83.7 85.4 85.2 2.2
Primary and semifinished 80.1 86.5 78.0 87.8 63.5 79.4 78.0 77.5 77.4 76.7 75.2 75.2 1.1
Finished 76.8 83.3 77.5 80.7 66.4 78.0 78.6 79.0 78.2 77.2 78.3 78.1 1.6
[r] Revised. [p] Preliminary.
Market Groups

The major market groups posted mixed results in February. Gains were recorded by consumer goods, defense and space equipment, and materials, while losses were recorded by business equipment, construction supplies, and business supplies. Defense and space equipment registered the largest increase (1.2 percent), while construction supplies registered the largest decrease (0.5 percent). Within consumer goods, the index for consumer durables fell primarily as a result of a drop for automotive products, the index for non-energy nondurables was unchanged, and the index for consumer energy products moved up. Within materials, the indexes for both durable and nondurable materials increased modestly, while the index for energy materials declined slightly for its fifth consecutive monthly decrease.

Industry Groups

Manufacturing output increased 0.1 percent in February but was 1.0 percent below its year-earlier level. In February, the indexes for durable manufacturing and nondurable manufacturing moved up 0.1 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively, while the index for other manufacturing (publishing and logging) fell 1.5 percent. Within durables, computer and electronic products recorded the largest gain (1.2 percent), while nonmetallic mineral products recorded the largest loss (0.5 percent). Within nondurables, decreases of at least 1 percent were registered by textile and product mills and by plastics and rubber products; only chemicals recorded an increase of more than 1 percent.

Mining output fell 0.6 percent in February; the indexes for oil and gas extraction, for mining except oil and gas, and for support activities all decreased. The output of utilities rose 0.5 percent, with increases for both electric and natural gas utilities.

Capacity utilization for manufacturing slipped 0.1 percentage point in February to 77.6 percent, a rate that is 0.6 percentage point below its long-run average. The operating rate for mining fell 0.6 percentage point to 87.3 percent, while the operating rate for utilities increased 0.2 percentage point to 68.9 percent. The rate for mining was 1.0 percentage point above its long-run average, while the rate for utilities remained substantially below its long-run average.

Revision of Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization

The Federal Reserve Board plans to issue its annual revision to the indexes of industrial production (IP) and the related measures of capacity utilization on March 28, 2023. New annual benchmark data for manufacturing for 2021 will be incorporated, as well as other annual data, including information on the mining of metallic and nonmetallic minerals (except fuels). The updated IP indexes will include revisions to the monthly indicator (either product data or input data) and to seasonal factors for each industry. In addition, the estimation methods for some series may be changed. Any modifications 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 for manufacturing through the fourth quarter of 2022 from the U.S. Census Bureau's Quarterly Survey of Plant Capacity Utilization, along with new data on capacity from the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. Department of Energy, and other organizations.

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.

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Last Update: March 28, 2023