INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION AND CAPACITY UTILIZATION
[Annual Revision Notice Below]
Industrial production fell 1.4 percent in February; the overall index has now declined for 4 consecutive
months and for 10 of the past 12 months. At 99.7 percent of its 2002 average, output in February was 11.2
percent below its year-earlier level and was the lowest level since April 2002. Production in the
manufacturing sector moved down 0.7 percent, with broad-based declines among its components. An increase
in the production of motor vehicles and parts after the extended plant shutdowns in January, however, added
nearly 1/2 percentage point to the change in manufacturing production. Outside of manufacturing, the
output of mines moved down 0.4 percent, while a swing to above-average temperatures contributed to a 7.7
percent drop in the output of utilities. The capacity utilization rate for total industry fell to 70.9
percent, a rate 10 percentage points below its average from 1972 to 2008. This rate matches the historical
low for this series, which was recorded in December 1982; the data for total industrial utilization begin
in 1967.
Industrial production |
2002=100 | Percent change | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2008 | 2009 | 2008 | 2009 | Feb. '08 to Feb. '09 |
|||||||||
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 | 105.3 | 107.0 | 105.7 | 103.2 | 101.2 | 99.7 | -4.1 | 1.7 | -1.3 | -2.4 | -1.9 | -1.4 | -11.2 |
Previous estimates | 105.3 | 107.0 | 105.7 | 103.2 | 101.3 | -4.1 | 1.6 | -1.2 | -2.4 | -1.8 | |||
Major market groups | |||||||||||||
Final Products | 107.6 | 108.5 | 108.1 | 107.1 | 104.4 | 103.3 | -2.6 | .8 | -.3 | -1.0 | -2.5 | -1.1 | -9.2 |
Consumer goods | 102.6 | 104.4 | 103.4 | 101.4 | 99.4 | 98.7 | -1.2 | 1.8 | -1.0 | -1.9 | -1.9 | -.7 | -8.5 |
Business equipment | 119.5 | 116.5 | 119.2 | 122.3 | 117.1 | 115.6 | -7.6 | -2.5 | 2.3 | 2.6 | -4.2 | -1.3 | -11.8 |
Nonindustrial supplies | 102.2 | 102.2 | 100.0 | 96.8 | 95.7 | 93.4 | -2.6 | .0 | -2.1 | -3.1 | -1.2 | -2.4 | -12.9 |
Construction | 98.4 | 96.7 | 92.9 | 89.3 | 85.6 | 83.7 | -2.5 | -1.6 | -3.9 | -3.9 | -4.2 | -2.2 | -18.2 |
Materials | 104.3 | 107.5 | 105.5 | 101.9 | 100.2 | 98.7 | -5.9 | 3.0 | -1.8 | -3.5 | -1.7 | -1.5 | -12.4 |
Major industry groups | |||||||||||||
Manufacturing (see note below) | 106.6 | 107.3 | 104.9 | 101.8 | 99.1 | 98.3 | -3.7 | .6 | -2.2 | -2.9 | -2.7 | -.7 | -13.1 |
Previous estimates | 106.5 | 107.2 | 104.8 | 101.8 | 99.2 | -3.8 | .6 | -2.2 | -2.9 | -2.5 | |||
Mining | 94.9 | 102.4 | 104.6 | 103.1 | 102.1 | 101.7 | -9.8 | 7.9 | 2.2 | -1.4 | -1.0 | -.4 | -1.9 |
Utilities | 105.5 | 107.4 | 109.2 | 109.6 | 112.5 | 103.8 | 1.6 | 1.8 | 1.6 | .4 | 2.6 | -7.7 | -7.8 |
Capacity utilization |
Percent of capacity |
Capacity growth |
|||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Average 1972- 2008 |
1988- 89 high |
1990- 91 low |
1994- 95 high |
2001- 02 low |
2008 Feb. |
||||||||
2008 | 2009 | Feb. '08 to Feb. '09 |
|||||||||||
Sept.[r] | Oct.[r] | Nov.[r] | Dec.[r] | Jan.[r] | Feb.[p] | ||||||||
Total industry | 80.9 | 85.0 | 78.6 | 85.1 | 73.6 | 80.7 | 75.0 | 76.2 | 75.2 | 73.3 | 71.9 | 70.9 | 1.1 |
Previous estimates | 75.0 | 76.1 | 75.2 | 73.3 | 72.0 | ||||||||
Manufacturing (see note below) | 79.6 | 85.4 | 77.1 | 84.6 | 71.5 | 78.5 | 73.2 | 73.6 | 71.9 | 69.7 | 67.9 | 67.4 | 1.2 |
Previous estimates | 73.2 | 73.6 | 71.9 | 69.7 | 68.0 | ||||||||
Mining | 87.6 | 86.3 | 83.6 | 88.7 | 84.8 | 90.5 | 82.6 | 89.0 | 90.9 | 89.6 | 88.7 | 88.2 | .7 |
Utilities | 86.8 | 92.7 | 84.1 | 93.9 | 84.6 | 88.6 | 82.0 | 83.3 | 84.5 | 84.7 | 86.8 | 80.1 | 2.1 |
Stage-of-process groups | |||||||||||||
Crude | 86.7 | 88.3 | 84.4 | 89.5 | 81.9 | 89.4 | 79.6 | 86.0 | 86.3 | 84.2 | 83.6 | 83.5 | .4 |
Primary and semifinished | 82.1 | 86.4 | 77.8 | 88.2 | 74.6 | 81.0 | 75.2 | 76.2 | 74.2 | 71.7 | 70.4 | 68.3 | 1.3 |
Finished | 77.6 | 82.8 | 77.1 | 80.4 | 69.9 | 77.0 | 73.2 | 72.3 | 72.0 | 70.9 | 69.2 | 69.1 | 1.5 |
Market Groups
The production of consumer goods decreased 0.7 percent in February. Consumer durable goods rose 1.6 percent, consumer non-energy nondurable goods edged down 0.1�percent, and consumer energy products declined 3.4 percent. Among consumer durables, the output of automotive products rose 8.5 percent but remained about 35 percent below its year-earlier level. After dropping from an annual rate of 6.6 million units in December to a rate of 3.8 million units in January, motor vehicle assemblies increased in February to 4.7 million units. The index for home electronics moved down 1.9�percent; the index for appliances, furniture, and carpeting dropped 3.3�percent; and the index for miscellaneous goods fell 3.1 percent. Among non-energy nondurable goods, the index for clothing decreased 1.5 percent, and the index for consumer chemical products declined 0.2 percent; the output of foods and tobacco was unchanged, while the output of paper products edged up 0.1 percent. Lower residential sales of electricity and natural gas accounted for the decline in the index for consumer energy goods, while fuels output increased because of higher gasoline production.
The output of business equipment decreased 1.3 percent in February after dropping 4.2 percent in January. In February, a rise of 3.2 percent in the production of transit equipment, primarily resulting from the gain in vehicle production, was more than offset by a decline of 1.0 percent in the index for information processing equipment and a contraction of 2.8 percent in the index for industrial and other equipment. Decreases were widespread among the components of the latter two categories.
After increasing 1.1 percent in January, the output of defense and space equipment advanced 0.8 percent further in February; the gains in the past two months have reversed much of the slide in this index during 2008.
Among nonindustrial supplies, the production of construction supplies decreased 2.2 percent in February and has fallen more than 18 percent over the past year. The production of business supplies weakened 2.5 percent in February; energy sales to businesses declined, as did production in most general business supply categories.
Materials output decreased 1.5 percent in February, with similarly sized reductions for both energy and non-energy materials. Among non-energy materials, the index for durable materials fell�2.3�percent. Higher production of motor vehicle parts was mainly responsible for a rise of 3.4�percent in the index for consumer parts. The index for equipment parts contracted 2.8 percent, with declines widespread among its components. The index for other durable materials fell 3.3 percent. The output of nondurable materials declined 0.7�percent, as the production of textile materials and paper materials shrank; the index for chemical materials was unchanged.
Industry Groups
In February, manufacturing output decreased 0.7 percent and was 13.1 percent below its year-earlier level. After falling to a historical low in January, the factory operating rate, which dates back to 1948, moved down an additional 0.5 percentage point in February, to 67.4 percent. The production index for durable goods declined 1.2 percent. The output of motor vehicles and parts expanded 10.2�percent, and the output of aerospace and miscellaneous transportation increased 0.4 percent. However, all of the other major indexes in this category fell sharply. The production of nondurable goods decreased 0.4 percent. The output of petroleum and coal products rose 0.7 percent after having fallen in each of the previous three months; the production of food, beverage, and tobacco products edged up 0.1�percent in February. Sizable declines, however, were recorded in most other major nondurable goods industries.
The index for the other manufacturing category, which consists of publishing and logging, decreased 0.4 percent.
Mining output moved down 0.4 percent, and the utilization rate fell to 88.2 percent, a rate below its year-earlier level but still 0.6 percentage point above its 1972-2008 average. The output of electric and gas utilities fell 7.7 percent, and the operating rate dropped to 80.1 percent, a rate 6.7 percentage points below its 1972-2008 average.
Capacity utilization rates in February at industries grouped by stage of process were as follows: At the crude stage, utilization edged down 0.1 percentage point, to 83.5 percent, a rate 3.2 percentage points below its 1972-2008 average; at the primary and semifinished stages, utilization dropped 2.1 percentage points, to 68.3 percent, a rate 13.8 percentage points below its long-run average; and at the finished stage, utilization slipped 0.1 percentage point, to 69.1 percent, a rate 8.5 percentage points below its long-run average.
Revision of Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization
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 |