Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization - G.17

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Release Date: January 17, 2024
Revision of Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization Notice Below

Industrial production moved up 0.1 percent in December and declined 3.1 percent at an annual rate in the fourth quarter. Manufacturing output edged up 0.1 percent in December after increasing 0.2 percent in November. The index for utilities declined 1.0 percent in December, while the index for mining rose 0.9 percent. At 102.5 percent of its 2017 average, total industrial production in December was 1 percent above its year-earlier level. Capacity utilization was unchanged in December at 78.6 percent, a rate that is 1.1 percentage points below its long-run (1972–2022) average.

Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization: Summary
Seasonally adjusted
Industrial production 2017=100 Percent change
2023 2023 Dec. '22 to
Dec. '23
July[r] Aug.[r] Sept.[r] Oct.[r] Nov.[r] Dec.[p] July[r] Aug.[r] Sept.[r] Oct.[r] Nov.[r] Dec.[p]
       
Total index 103.2 103.2 103.3 102.5 102.4 102.5 .9 .0 .1 -.8 .0 .1 1.0
Previous estimates 103.2 103.2 103.3 102.4 102.7   .9 .0 .1 -.9 .2    
       
Major market groups
Final Products 101.8 102.0 101.6 100.6 100.8 100.9 1.2 .1 -.4 -1.0 .3 .1 -.4
Consumer goods 102.4 102.6 102.4 101.1 101.2 101.4 1.3 .2 -.2 -1.2 .1 .2 -1.0
Business equipment 97.0 97.0 95.9 95.1 96.0 95.8 .9 .0 -1.1 -.9 1.0 -.2 -.1
Nonindustrial supplies 100.0 100.2 100.3 100.3 99.8 99.6 .2 .2 .1 .0 -.5 -.2 -.4
Construction 101.1 100.4 101.1 100.7 100.1 100.0 -.1 -.8 .7 -.4 -.6 -.1 -1.0
Materials 105.5 105.4 105.9 104.9 104.8 104.9 .9 -.1 .5 -1.0 -.1 .1 2.7
       
Major industry groups
Manufacturing (see note below) 99.5 99.5 99.6 98.8 99.0 99.1 .4 .1 .1 -.8 .2 .1 1.2
Previous estimates 99.5 99.5 99.6 98.8 99.2   .4 .0 .1 -.8 .3    
Mining 120.0 119.3 120.3 119.2 118.1 119.2 .7 -.6 .9 -.9 -1.0 .9 4.3
Utilities 107.0 107.7 106.7 105.7 105.0 103.9 4.9 .7 -.9 -.9 -.7 -1.0 -4.9

Capacity utilization Percent of capacity Capacity
growth
Average
1972-
2022 		1988-
89
high 		1990-
91
low 		1994-
95
high 		 
2009
low 		 
2022
Dec. 		   
2023 Dec. '22 to
Dec. '23
July[r] Aug.[r] Sept.[r] Oct.[r] Nov.[r] Dec.[p]
       
Total industry 79.7 85.2 78.8 85.0 66.6 78.9 79.5 79.5 79.5 78.7 78.6 78.6 1.4
Previous estimates             79.6 79.5 79.5 78.7 78.8    
       
Manufacturing (see note below) 78.2 85.6 77.3 84.6 63.4 77.1 77.8 77.7 77.7 77.0 77.1 77.1 1.3
Previous estimates             77.8 77.7 77.7 77.0 77.2    
Mining 86.4 86.3 84.3 88.6 78.9 89.4 94.0 93.6 94.4 93.7 92.9 93.8 -.5
Utilities 84.7 93.2 84.7 93.2 78.1 76.1 73.1 73.4 72.5 71.6 70.9 70.0 3.5
       
Stage-of-process groups
Crude 85.6 87.9 84.8 90.0 76.9 86.5 91.4 91.3 92.1 91.5 91.1 91.9 -.5
Primary and semifinished 80.2 86.5 78.0 87.8 63.6 77.4 77.1 77.2 77.2 76.6 76.4 76.0 1.4
Finished 76.7 83.4 77.5 80.7 66.3 76.5 76.6 76.4 76.0 75.1 75.2 75.2 2.2
[r] Revised. [p] Preliminary.

Market Groups

The major market groups posted mixed results in December. The production of consumer goods moved up 0.2 percent, largely from gains in durable consumer goods; the production of nondurable consumer goods was flat. The indexes of business equipment, construction supplies, and business supplies all registered slight declines in December. The output of defense and space equipment rose 0.5 percent in December and recorded a gain of 9.1 percent at an annual rate for the fourth quarter. Materials output edged up in December, as a slight decline in its non-energy component was more than offset by a gain of 0.5 percent in its energy component.

Industry Groups

Manufacturing output ticked up 0.1 percent in December but declined 2.2 percent (annual rate) in the fourth quarter. Excluding motor vehicles and parts, factory output declined 0.1 percent in December and 0.3 percent (annual rate) in the fourth quarter. In December, the index for durable manufacturing fell 0.4 percent, while the index for nondurable manufacturing rose 0.6 percent. The index for other manufacturing (publishing and logging) declined 1.1 percent. Within durables, declines of more than 1 percent were recorded by wood products, by fabricated metal products, by machinery, and by electrical equipment, appliances, and components. Motor vehicles and parts as well as furniture and related products posted gains of more than 1 percent. Within nondurables, most industries registered gains with the exception of paper and of printing and support.

In December, mining output increased 0.9 percent, and the output of utilities decreased 1.0 percent. For the fourth quarter, the output of mines fell 3.4 percent (annual rate) after increasing in the previous two quarters. The index for utilities dropped 8.2 percent (annual rate) in the fourth quarter after jumping over 15 percent in the previous quarter.

Capacity utilization for manufacturing remained unchanged at 77.1 percent, a rate that is 1.1 percentage points below its long-run average. The operating rate for mining moved up 0.9 percentage point to 93.8 percent, a rate that is 7.4 percentage points above its long-run average. The operating rate for utilities moved down 0.9 percentage point to 70.0 percent, well 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 tentatively in the first half of 2024. The Economic Census for 2022 will not be available from the U.S. Census Bureau by early 2024, so no new annual benchmark data will be included for manufacturing. Other annual data, including information on the mining of metallic and nonmetallic minerals (except fuels), will be incorporated. 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 2023 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: January 17, 2024