Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization - G.17

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Release Date: April 14, 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 Data referred to in the release dated March 17, 2023, were superseded by the data issued at the time of the annual revision.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 rose 0.4 percent in March and was little changed in the first quarter, increasing at an annual rate of 0.2 percent. In March, manufacturing and mining output each fell 0.5 percent. The index for utilities jumped 8.4 percent, as the return to more seasonal weather after a mild February boosted the demand for heating. At 103.0 percent of its 2017 average, total industrial production in March was 0.5 percent above its year-earlier level. Capacity utilization moved up to 79.8 percent in March, a rate that is 0.1 percentage point above its long-run (1972–2022) average.

Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization: Summary
Seasonally adjusted
Industrial production 2017=100 Percent change
2022 2023 2022 2023 Mar. '22 to
Mar. '23
Oct.[r] Nov.[r] Dec.[r] Jan.[r] Feb.[r] Mar.[p] Oct.[r] Nov.[r] Dec.[r] Jan.[r] Feb.[r] Mar.[p]
       
Total index 103.4 103.1 101.5 102.4 102.6 103.0 -.1 -.3 -1.5 .9 .2 .4 .5
Previous estimates 103.4 103.0 101.6 102.0 102.0   -.2 -.3 -1.4 .4 .0    
       
Major market groups
Final Products 102.6 102.2 101.3 101.4 101.5 102.0 .4 -.4 -.9 .0 .2 .5 .4
Consumer goods 103.2 103.1 102.4 102.1 102.6 103.5 .5 -.1 -.7 -.3 .4 .9 .1
Business equipment 98.6 97.5 95.9 97.1 96.6 95.6 .4 -1.1 -1.6 1.2 -.5 -1.0 1.2
Nonindustrial supplies 102.2 102.1 100.0 101.2 101.2 101.5 -.2 -.1 -2.1 1.2 .1 .3 -1.3
Construction 103.4 103.0 101.2 104.0 103.9 102.0 -.4 -.4 -1.7 2.7 -.1 -1.8 -2.7
Materials 104.5 104.1 102.1 103.7 104.0 104.4 -.5 -.4 -1.9 1.6 .3 .3 1.2
       
Major industry groups
Manufacturing (see note below) 100.8 100.1 98.0 99.4 100.0 99.5 .1 -.7 -2.1 1.5 .6 -.5 -1.1
Previous estimates 100.7 100.0 98.2 99.5 99.6   .1 -.7 -1.9 1.4 .1    
Mining 117.4 116.4 113.8 118.3 117.1 116.6 .2 -.9 -2.2 4.0 -1.0 -.5 5.4
Utilities 102.4 105.8 109.2 101.4 100.6 109.0 -2.4 3.4 3.2 -7.2 -.7 8.4 4.2

Capacity utilization Percent of capacity Capacity
growth
Average
1972-
2022 		1988-
89
high 		1990-
91
low 		1994-
95
high 		 
2009
low 		 
2022
Mar. 		   
2022 2023 Mar. '22 to
Mar. '23
Oct.[r] Nov.[r] Dec.[r] Jan.[r] Feb.[r] Mar.[p]
       
Total industry 79.7 85.2 78.8 85.0 66.6 80.5 80.6 80.3 78.9 79.5 79.6 79.8 1.4
Previous estimates             80.6 80.2 79.0 79.2 79.1    
       
Manufacturing (see note below) 78.2 85.6 77.3 84.6 63.4 79.9 79.5 78.9 77.2 78.3 78.6 78.1 1.1
Previous estimates             79.5 78.9 77.3 78.3 78.3    
Mining 86.4 86.3 84.3 88.6 78.9 88.2 92.1 91.1 89.1 92.5 91.6 91.1 2.0
Utilities 84.7 93.2 84.7 93.2 78.1 74.7 71.8 74.0 76.1 70.4 69.7 75.3 3.4
       
Stage-of-process groups
Crude 85.6 87.9 84.8 90.0 76.9 88.1 89.9 88.9 86.2 89.4 89.4 89.3 1.4
Primary and semifinished 80.2 86.5 78.0 87.8 63.6 79.7 78.4 78.6 77.5 76.8 77.0 78.0 1.4
Finished 76.7 83.4 77.5 80.7 66.3 77.6 78.2 77.5 76.5 77.7 77.5 77.0 1.6
[r] Revised. [p] Preliminary.
Market Groups

The major market groups posted mixed results in March. Nondurable consumer goods, business supplies, and energy materials all recorded notable gains as a result of the jump in the output of utilities. Defense and space equipment posted the only other gain, increasing 0.8 percent. Construction supplies recorded the largest drop (1.8 percent), followed by business equipment (1.0 percent), durable consumer goods (0.9 percent), and non-energy materials (0.5 percent).

Industry Groups

Manufacturing output decreased 0.5 percent in March and was 1.1 percent below its year-earlier level. For the first quarter as a whole, the manufacturing sector edged up 0.3 percent at an annual rate. The indexes for durable manufacturing and nondurable manufacturing moved down 0.9 percent and 0.1 percent in March, respectively, while the index for other manufacturing (publishing and logging) fell 0.7 percent. Most durables industries posted losses; wood products posted the largest drop, of 2.9 percent, followed by nonmetallic mineral products, which fell 2.6 percent. Within nondurables, gains of at least 1 percent were registered by apparel and leather and by petroleum and coal products; chemicals posted the largest loss, at 0.9 percent.

Mining output slipped 0.5 percent in March, with declines in the indexes for oil and gas extraction, other mining, and support activities. The output of utilities jumped 8.4 percent, with advances for both electric and natural gas utilities.

Capacity utilization for manufacturing moved down 0.5 percentage point in March to 78.1 percent, a rate that is 0.1 percentage point below its long-run average. The operating rate for mining fell 0.5 percentage point to 91.1 percent, while the operating rate for utilities jumped 5.6 percentage points to 75.3 percent. The rate for mining was 4.7 percentage points 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 issued 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 were incorporated, as well as other annual data, including information on the mining of metallic and nonmetallic minerals (except fuels). The updated IP indexes included 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 were changed. Any modifications to the methods for estimating the output of an industry affected the index from 1972 to the present.

Capacity and capacity utilization were 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: April 14, 2023