INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION AND CAPACITY UTILIZATION

[2005 Revision Notice Below]

Industrial production rose 0.1 percent in August, and at 119.7 percent of its 1997 average, was 3.1 percent above its year-earlier level. Manufacturing output increased 0.3 percent; excluding motor vehicles and parts, manufacturing production was unchanged from July. The output at mines declined 0.6 percent, and the output at utilities decreased 0.5 percent. Hurricane Katrina severely curtailed output in the Gulf Coast region at the end of August; hurricane-related production declines were most evident in oil and gas extraction, industrial chemicals manufacturing, and petroleum refining. Overall, the rate of change in total industrial production in August was reduced by an estimated 0.3 percentage point because of disruptions related to the hurricane. Capacity utilization for total industry was 79.8 percent, a rate that is 1.5 percentage points above its year-earlier level but 1.2 percentage points below its 1972-2004 average.

INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION AND CAPACITY UTILIZATION: SUMMARY
Seasonally adjusted

Industrial production	1997=100				Percent change
	2005				2005				Aug. '04 to Aug. '05
	May	June	July	Aug.	May	June	July	Aug.
Total index	118.5	119.4	119.5	119.7	.3	.8	.1	.1	3.1
Previous estimates	118.4	119.4	119.4		.3	.8	.1
Major market groups
Final Products	117.3	118.3	118.4	118.7	.7	.8	.1	.2	4.3
Consumer goods	113.2	114.3	113.7	114.1	.7	1.0	-.5	.3	2.4
Business equipment	128.2	128.6	130.6	130.3	1.0	.3	1.6	-.2	8.0
Nonindustrial supplies	115.5	116.3	116.4	116.5	-.1	.6	.1	.1	3.2
Construction	110.0	109.1	109.8	110.6	.0	-.8	.6	.7	2.2
Materials	120.6	121.6	121.6	121.7	.1	.8	.0	.1	2.0
Major industry groups
Manufacturing (see note below)	120.8	121.2	121.3	121.7	.4	.3	.1	.3	2.9
Previous estimates	120.7	121.2	121.4		.4	.4	.1
Mining	92.7	93.2	92.3	91.7	-.4	.5	-1.0	-.6	-.2
Utilities	114.4	120.0	120.8	120.2	.2	4.9	.7	-.5	8.2

Market Groups

The output of consumer goods rose 0.3 percent in August. The production of durable goods increased 2.8 percent, and all major categories posted gains. After falling 1.8 percent in July, the output of automotive products jumped 4.7 percent in August. The indexes for home electronics; appliances, furniture, and carpeting; and miscellaneous goods also rose in August. The production of nondurable consumer goods fell 0.6 percent; all major categories--foods and tobacco, clothing, chemical products, and paper products--registered declines. The index for non-energy nondurables decreased 0.6 percent. Hurricane-related shutdowns contributed to a drop of 0.7 percent in the output of consumer energy products.

The index for business equipment slipped 0.2 percent, its first decline after eight consecutive months of increases. Still, the index remained 8.0 percent above its year-earlier level. The production of transit equipment and information processing equipment rose substantially, but the output of industrial and other equipment dropped back 1.9 percent, reversing much of its surge in July. The production of defense and space equipment increased 1.4 percent and was 12.2 percent higher than its level in August 2004. The index for construction supplies rose 0.7 percent in August, but the output of business supplies slipped 0.1 percent.

The output of materials edged up 0.1 percent; a gain of 0.4 percent in the output of non-energy materials slightly more than offset a decline of 0.7 percent in energy materials. Among non-energy materials, output rose in all major categories of durable goods materials, and output fell in all major categories of nondurable materials. Storm-related disruptions contributed to the declines in the output of energy materials and of chemical materials (a major category within nondurable materials).

Industry Groups

Manufacturing output rose 0.3 percent in August. Gains in the production of durables were widespread. The production of motor vehicles and parts advanced 3.7 percent, and the following industries also registered gains of more than 1 percent: primary metals, computer and electronic products, aerospace and miscellaneous transportation equipment, and miscellaneous manufacturing. These gains were only slightly offset by decreases in the output of machinery and wood products; the drop of 2.6 percent in machinery production followed a large gain in July. In contrast to durables, most major categories of nondurables declined in August. Hurricane-related shutdowns in the Gulf Coast region contributed to a drop of 1.1 percent in the production of chemicals and a decrease of 0.9 percent in the output of petroleum and coal products. The output of non-NAICS manufacturing industries (publishing and logging) together declined 0.6 percent. Capacity utilization in manufacturing edged up to 78.4 percent, a level 1.2 percentage points above that of August 2004.

The output at mines fell 0.6 percent in August; reductions in the extraction of oil and gas and in coal mining contributed heavily to the decline. Capacity utilization in mining declined to 87.4 percent. The output at utilities declined 0.5 percent, and the industry operating rate fell to 87.8 percent.

For industries by stage of process, capacity utilization for the crude stage decreased 0.8 percentage point, to 85.2 percent; for the primary and semifinished stages, it rose 0.1 percentage point, to 80.6 percent; and for the finished stage, it rose 0.2 percentage point, to 78.0 percent.

Revision of Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization

The Federal Reserve Board plans to issue its annual revision to the index of industrial production (IP) and the related measures of capacity and capacity utilization on November 7, 2005. The production indexes will be revised throughout to reflect a new comparison base year of 2002. The revised IP indexes will incorporate data from the 2003 Annual Survey of Manufactures and from selected editions of the 2003 and 2004 Current Industrial Reports, all from the U.S. Census Bureau. Annual data from the U.S. Geological Survey regarding metallic and nonmetallic minerals (except fuels) for 2003 and 2004 will also be introduced. The updating will include revisions to the monthly indicator for each industry (either product data or input data) and revisions to seasonal factors.

Capacity and capacity utilization will be revised to incorporate preliminary data from the Census Bureau's 2004 Survey of Plant Capacity, which covers manufacturing, along with new data on capacity from the U.S. Geological Survey, the Department of Energy, and other organizations.

Once published, the revision will be available on the Board's website at www.federalreserve.gov/releases/G17. The revised data will also be available on the website of the Department of Commerce. Further information on these revisions is available from the Board's Industrial Output Section (telephone 202-452-3197).

NOTE: 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.

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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