INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION AND CAPACITY UTILIZATION
[2004 Revision Notice Below]

Industrial production rose 0.1 percent in August following an upwardly revised increase of 0.6 percent in July. After decreasing 0.2 percent in June, manufacturing output gained 0.9 percent in July and 0.5 percent in August. The output at utilities fell significantly for a third consecutive month in August, and mining output moved down after a strong increase in July. At 116.6 percent of its 1997 average, industrial production in August was 5.2 percent above its level a year earlier. Capacity utilization for total industry was unchanged in August, at 77.3 percent, a rate 3.8 percentage points below its 1972-2003 average.

r  Revised.  p  Preliminary.

       The statistics in this release cover output, capacity, and capacity utilization in the

industrial sector, which the Federal Reserve defines as manufacturing, mining, and electric and

gas utilities.  Manufacturing comprises those industries included in the North American Industry

Classification System, or NAICS, manufacturing plus the logging and newspaper, periodical,

book and directory publishing industries that have traditionally been considered manufacturing and included

in the industrial sector.

Market Groups

The output of consumer goods rose 0.3 percent in August. An increase of 1.6 percent in the production of durables reflected mainly a sharp increase in automotive products. Motor vehicle assemblies rose 0.5 million units from July, to a 12 million unit pace (annual rate). After an increase of 0.7 percent in July, the output of appliances, furniture, and carpeting moved up 0.2 percent in August; the production indexes for home electronics and for miscellaneous durable goods fell. The production of consumer nondurables edged down 0.1 percent. Further sharp declines in the output of consumer energy products and clothing more than offset gains in chemical products and paper products, both of which advanced for a second consecutive month.

The production of business equipment moved down 1.2 percent in August and thus reversed part of its sharp rise in July. The industrial and other equipment category declined 2.6 percent; production in two of its components, farm equipment and construction equipment, retreated after strong July gains. Led by declines in the output of medium and heavy trucks, transit equipment production fell 0.8 percent but remained above its second-quarter level. A 1.1 percent rise in the production of information processing equipment included a gain in the production of business computers and the fourth consecutive monthly rise in the output of communications equipment. The production of defense and space equipment edged up 0.1 percent after a large gain in July.

The production of construction supplies advanced 0.4 percent in both July and August. The output of business supplies was unchanged in August. A rise of 0.3 percent in the index for materials reflected strong gains in non-energy materials and a decrease in energy materials. A gain of 0.9 percent in the output of durable goods materials was led by an increase in the production of motor vehicle parts, and a rise of 1.0 percent in the output of nondurable materials was created by gains in the production of paper and chemical materials, which more than offset a drop in the output of textiles.

Industry Groups

Manufacturing output increased 0.5 percent in August, with increases in the production of both durables and nondurables. Capacity utilization in manufacturing edged up, to 76.8 percent, a level 3.8 percentage points above that of August 2003. Within the durable manufacturing category, the production of motor vehicles and parts increased and machinery output declined. The output of primary metal products rose for a third consecutive month, and was led by an increase in the production of steel products. The increase in the output of nondurable goods included gains in the production of petroleum and coal products, paper, chemicals, and printing and related activities. The output of other (non-NAICS) manufacturing industries (publishing and logging) advanced 2.0 percent.

The output at mines fell 1.1 percent in August, as crude oil extraction and coal mining moved down sharply. Capacity utilization in mining declined to 83.9 percent. The output at utilities dropped 2.4 percent, and the industry operating rate fell to 79.5 percent.

Capacity utilization for industries in the crude stage of processing decreased 0.5 percentage point, to 85.0 percent, in August. The operating rate for industries in the primary and semifinished stages edged up 0.1 percentage point, to 79.0 percent. For industries in the finished goods stage, capacity utilization was unchanged in August, at 74.1 percent.

Revision of Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization

The Federal Reserve Board plans to issue, in fall 2004, an annual revision to the index of industrial production (IP), the related measures of capacity and capacity utilization, and the data on industrial use of electric power; the date of the revision is subject to the availability of the comprehensive source data from the Census Bureau's 2002 Economic Census. In addition to these data, the revised IP indexes will incorporate data from selected editions of the Census Bureau's 2002 and 2003 Current Industrial Reports. Annual data from the U.S. Geological Survey regarding metallic and nonmetallic minerals (except fuels) for 2002 and 2003 will also be introduced. The updating will also include revisions to the monthly indicator for each industry (either physical product data, production-worker hours, or electric power usage) and revisions to seasonal factors.

Capacity and capacity utilization will be revised to incorporate preliminary data from the Census Bureau's 2003 Survey of Plant Capacity, which covers manufacturing, along with new data on capacity from the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. 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 available data from the 2002 Economic Census.

Once the revision is published, it will be made available on the Board's web site at 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:

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: Electric Power Use: Manufacturing and Mining
Ascii	Screen reader	Table 12: Historical Statistics for IP, Capacity, and Utilization: Total Industry
Ascii	Screen reader	Table 13: Historical Statistics for IP, Capacity, and Utilization: Manufacturing
Ascii	Screen reader	Table 14: Historical Statistics for IP, Capacity, and Utilization: Total Industry excluding Selected High-Technology Industries
Ascii	Screen reader	Table 15: Historical Statistics for IP, Capacity, and Utilization: Manufacturing excluding Selected High-Technology Industries

Release dates | Historical data | Documentation
Current Monthly Release   Other formats: ASCII | PDF (144 KB)
Supplemental Monthly Release   Other formats: ASCII | PDF (144 KB)
Annual Revision Release   Other formats: ASCII | PDF (150 KB)

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