INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION AND CAPACITY UTILIZATION
INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION AND CAPACITY UTILIZATION
Industrial production posted a 0.3 percent gain in August and was unchanged in July; the level of output in July was initially estimated to have risen by 0.4 percent. Manufacturing output inched up 0.1 percent in both July and August, a slower rate than in the first half of the year, when increases in manufacturing production averaged a little more than 1/2 percent per month. Mining output was unchanged in August, while production at utilities surged 4.0 percent. Capacity utilization for total industry rose 0.1 percentage point, to 82.3 percent, a level 0.3 percentage point above its 1967-99 average.
INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION AND CAPACITY UTILIZATION: SUMMARY
Seasonally adjusted
| Index, 1992=100 | Percent change
| 2000 | 2000 | Aug. 99 to
Industrial Production | May June July Aug. | May June July Aug. | Aug. 00
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| | |
Total index | 144.7 145.2 145.2 145.7 | .8 .3 .0 .3 | 5.8
Previous estimates | 144.4 144.8 145.3 | .6 .2 .4 |
| | |
Major market groups: | | |
Products, total | 131.2 131.3 131.5 131.8 | .2 .1 .2 .2 | 3.2
Consumer goods | 118.8 119.0 118.6 119.2 | .2 .2 -.3 .5 | 1.3
Business equipment | 185.7 186.8 188.6 189.2 | .4 .6 1.0 .3 | 8.8
Construction supplies | 137.4 136.9 137.1 135.5 | -1.3 -.3 .1 -1.2 | 1.9
Materials | 168.1 169.3 168.9 169.9 | 1.9 .7 -.2 .6 | 9.9
| | |
Major industry groups: | | |
Manufacturing | 150.3 151.0 151.2 151.3 | .6 .5 .1 .1 | 6.2
Durable | 189.2 190.8 190.9 191.3 | 1.3 .8 .0 .2 | 9.7
Nondurable | 113.2 113.3 113.4 113.3 | -.3 .1 .1 -.1 | 1.6
Mining | 102.3 103.1 104.3 104.3 | 1.1 .8 1.1 .0 | 5.9
Utilities | 119.0 115.7 113.4 117.9 | 3.6 -2.8 -2.0 4.0 | .1
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| | Capacity
| Percent of Capacity | Growth
| Average 1982 1988-89 1999 | 2000 | Aug. 99 to
Capacity Utilization | 1967-99 Low High Aug. | May June July Aug. | Aug. 00
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| | |
Total industry | 82.0 71.1 85.4 80.7 | 82.4 82.4 82.2 82.3 | 3.7
Previous estimates | | 82.3 82.2 82.3 |
| | |
Manufacturing | 81.1 69.0 85.7 79.7 | 81.5 81.6 81.4 81.2 | 4.2
Advanced processing | 80.5 70.4 84.2 78.8 | 81.0 81.1 81.1 81.1 | 5.4
Primary processing | 82.4 66.2 88.9 82.8 | 83.3 83.3 82.7 82.2 | 1.5
Mining | 87.3 80.3 88.0 81.9 | 85.7 86.5 87.6 87.8 | -1.2
Utilities | 87.5 75.9 92.6 92.2 | 92.3 89.6 87.7 91.2 | 1.2
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Note: Estimates for August are preliminary. Estimates from May to July are revised.
Market Groups
After having declined 0.3 percent in July, the output of consumer goods rose 0.5 percent in August; production in the durable and nondurable goods sectors posted comparable gains. Within consumer durables, an increase in the output of automotive products, mainly motor vehicle assemblies and replacement tires, more than offset a decline in the production of other durable goods. Among other durable goods, a gain in the production of household appliances reversed a small portion of the sizable decline in July, but the output of carpeting and furniture and of miscellaneous durable goods fell. Within nondurable consumer goods, energy products jumped 3.7 percent in August, led by gains in residential sales of electricity and fuel oil. The output of non-energy products ticked up just 0.1 percent.
The production of business equipment rose 0.3 percent last month, with another large increase in the output of information processing and related equipment more than accounting for the gain. The production of industrial equipment moved down 0.5 percent. A 1.1 percent drop in transit equipment was due to declines in the output of commercial aircraft and of medium and heavy trucks. A large decrease in farm machinery and equipment production pushed down the "other equipment" index 4.8 percent. On balance, the level of output of business equipment was 8.8 percent higher than in August 1999, with gains in all major sectors except transit equipment. The production of defense and space equipment dropped 0.7 percent after two months of sizable increases.
After a downward-revised 0.1 percent rise in July, the production of construction supplies fell 1.2 percent in August and is now about 2-1/2 percent below its recent peak in April. The output of durable goods materials rose 0.5 percent, bringing production to a level 15.6 percent above the level in August 1999. The output of equipment parts, especially semiconductors, continued to post strong gains, but the output of consumer parts and of basic metals, such as steel, fell further. The output of nondurable goods materials dropped 0.2 percent, continuing the sluggish pattern that has been evident this year. In contrast, production of energy materials jumped 1.7 percent.
Industry Groups
Manufacturing output edged up 0.1 percent in August for the second consecutive month. Upward revisions to the manufacturing index for May and June were more than offset by a downward revision for July, which was largely attributable to lower production in steel, paper, and automotive parts. In August the level of output in the manufacturing sector was 6.2 percent higher than the level in August 1999. Excluding motor vehicles and parts, manufacturing production fell 0.1 percent. The output of durable goods industries moved up 0.2 percent, with the production of transportation equipment advancing 0.9 percent. Durable goods production was also lifted by further gains in computer and office equipment and semiconductors. The production of nondurable goods edged down, reversing the July increase; continued weakness in textile mill products, apparel, and rubber and plastics accounted for most of the decline. The overall factory operating rate dropped 0.2 percentage point, to 81.2 percent; capacity utilization at primary-processing industries fell 0.5 percentage point, while utilization at advanced-processing industries held steady at 81.1 percent.
The level of output in the mining sector was flat in August after three months of strong gains, which were mainly due to increases in the output of energy extraction industries. The utilization rate at mines ticked up, to 87.8 percent, a level 0.5 percentage point above its long-run average. Output at utilities, which had dropped 2.8 percent in June and 2.0 percent in July, jumped 4.0 percent; the operating rate at utilities increased to 91.2 percent, nearly 4 percent above its long-run average.
Revision of Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization
In November the Federal Reserve Board will publish revisions to the index of industrial
production (IP), to the related measures of capacity and capacity utilization, and to the index of
industrial use of electric power. The updated measures will reflect both the incorporation of
newly available, more comprehensive source data typical of annual revisions and, for some
series, the introduction of improved compilation methods. The revision will also include a
refinement of the method used to aggregate the individual series in the production and capacity
indexes. The new source data are for recent years, primarily 1997 through 1999, and the
modified methods affect data from 1992 onward.
This statistical release, the G.17, will be redesigned with the publication of the revision.
More special aggregates will be added, but some detailed industry data will be available only on
the Federal Reserve Board's public web site. Additional details regarding the redesign will be
provided next month.
The updating of source data for IP will include annual data from the following reports of
the Bureau of the Census: the 1997 Census of Manufactures, the 1998 Annual Survey of
Manufactures, and selected editions of its 1998 and 1999 Current Industrial Reports. Annual
data from the US Geological Survey regarding metallic and nonmetallic minerals (except fuels)
for 1998 and 1999 will also be introduced. The updating will include revisions to the monthly
indicator for each industry (either physical product data, production-worker hours, or electric
power usage) and revised seasonal factors.
Capacity and capacity utilization will be revised to incorporate preliminary data from the
1999 Survey of Plant Capacity of the Bureau of the Census, which covers manufacturing, along
with other new data on capacity from the U.S. Geological Survey, the Department of Energy,
and other organizations. The statistics on the industrial use of electric power will incorporate
additional information received from utilities for the past few years and will include some data
from the 1997 Census of Manufactures and 1998 Annual Survey of Manufactures.
Aggregate industrial production indexes have been built as annually weighted chain-type
indexes, beginning with data for 1977. Currently, the weights are changed at the middle of every
year; with the coming revision, the weights will change every month, rather than once a year,
beginning with data for 1992.
Once the revision is published, it will also be made available on the Board's web site
(www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g17). The revised data will also be available through the web
site of the Department of Commerce. Further information on these revisions is available from
the Board's Industrial Output Section (telephone 202-452-3197).
G.17 Release Tables:
G.17: Release |Release dates |About |ASCII |PDF (199 KB) |Historical data
