INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION AND CAPACITY UTILIZATION

Industrial production increased 0.3 percent in February after an upwardly revised gain of 0.1 percent in January; the increases in November and in December were also revised up slightly. In February, manufacturing output rose 0.5 percent, the output of mines advanced 0.2 percent, and the output of utilities fell 1.1 percent. At 118.4 percent of the 1997 average, overall industrial output in February was 3.5 percent above its February 2004 level. The rate of capacity utilization for total industry in February rose 0.2 percentage point, to 79.4 percent, a rate 1.6 percentage points below its 1972-2004 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 increased 1.1 percent in February after having fallen 0.5 percent in January. The index for consumer durable goods rose 3.6 percent and was boosted by a surge in the output of automotive products and a jump in the output of home electronics. Appliances, furniture, and carpeting posted a modest gain, but the production of miscellaneous durable goods moved lower. The index of consumer nondurable goods edged up 0.2 percent, as a gain in the output of non-energy nondurables was partly offset by a drop in the output of consumer energy products. Nevertheless, among non-energy nondurables, the index for clothing fell for a third consecutive month, and the production of paper products tumbled 1.2 percent after a large increase in January. In contrast, the indexes for foods and tobacco and for chemical products both posted strong gains.

The production of business equipment increased 0.3 percent after a gain of 1.0 percent in January. Increases in the output of information processing equipment and of transit equipment were partly offset by a drop in the output of industrial and other equipment. The production of defense and space equipment recorded an increase of 0.5 percent, to a level 8.5 percent above that of a year earlier.

The output of non-industrial supplies fell 0.5 percent in February as both construction supplies and business supplies moved lower. The materials index, however, edged up 0.1 percent. The production of durable materials, boosted by increases in consumer parts and in equipment parts, rose 0.6 percent. But the output of nondurable materials fell 0.5 percent, and lower electric power generation contributed to a small decline in energy materials.

Industry Groups

Manufacturing production rose 0.5 percent in February, and the factory operating rate advanced 0.3 percentage point, to 78.5 percent, the highest rate since November 2000. Nevertheless, the factory operating rate was still 1.3 percentage points below its 1972-2004 average. In February, the production of durable goods increased 1.0 percent, largely because of a jump of more than 5 percent in the output of motor vehicles and parts and a rise in the production of computer and electronic products. Among selected high-technology industries, the output of computer and peripheral equipment again rose about 3/4 percent, and the production of communications equipment posted a 2.3 percent gain. The increase in the output of semiconductor and related electronic equipment slowed last month after gains of more than 3 percent in the previous two months. The indexes for most of the other major durable goods categories were little changed or down. The production of nondurable goods rose 0.2 percent as the indexes for food, beverage, and tobacco products and for petroleum and coal products posted strong gains. However, a drop of 1.2 percent in the production of textile and product mills reversed the January increase, and the output of apparel and leather fell 1.4 percent. Output in most other major nondurable manufacturing industries also fell. Production of non-NAICS manufacturing (logging and publishing) moved lower as well.

The 0.2 percent increase in the output of mining reflected a gain in nonmetallic mineral mining; both coal mining and crude oil extraction were little changed. The drop of 1.1 percent in the output of utilities was the result of declines in the output of electric utilities and natural gas utilities.

Capacity utilization for industries in the crude stage of processing was unchanged at 86.4 percent, a rate that matches its 1972-2004 average. The operating rate for industries in the primary and semifinished stages fell to 80.2 percent, partly because of a drop in utilities output. However, the utilization rate for finished goods producers rose almost 1.0 percentage point, to 77.1 percent.

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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