INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION AND CAPACITY UTILIZATION

[2006 Revision Notice Below]

Industrial production increased 0.4 percent in July after a gain of 0.8 percent in June. Manufacturing output increased 0.1 percent in July; excluding motor vehicles and parts, manufacturing production rose 0.7 percent. With temperatures well above normal during July, the output of utilities rose 2.0 percent. Production at mines climbed 0.8 percent.

Capacity utilization for total industry rose to 82.4 percent in July; the utilization rate was 2.2 percentage points above its level in July 2005 and 1.4 percentage points above its 1972-2005 average.

INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION AND CAPACITY UTILIZATION: SUMMARY
Seasonally adjusted

Industrial production	2002=100				Percent change
	2006				2006				July '05 to July '06
	Apr.	May	June	July	Apr.	May	June	July
Total index	112.1	112.2	113.1	113.5	.8	.0	.8	.4	4.9
Previous estimates	112.2	112.3	113.2		.8	.1	.8
Major market groups
Final Products	113.7	113.5	114.7	114.7	.6	-.2	1.1	.1	4.6
Consumer goods	106.5	106.2	107.4	107.1	-.1	-.3	1.1	-.3	1.7
Business equipment	132.5	132.1	133.2	134.7	2.4	-.3	.8	1.1	12.2
Nonindustrial supplies	111.4	111.4	112.0	112.7	.4	.0	.5	.6	4.9
Construction	114.0	113.2	113.4	114.0	.3	-.6	.1	.5	6.0
Materials	110.7	111.1	111.9	112.6	1.1	.3	.7	.6	5.0
Major industry groups
Manufacturing (see note below)	114.3	114.1	115.1	115.2	.9	-.1	.8	.1	5.6
Previous estimates	114.2	114.3	115.2		.8	.1	.7
Mining	100.0	100.3	101.4	102.1	1.7	.3	1.1	.8	2.4
Utilities	104.2	105.6	106.5	108.6	-1.3	1.3	.9	2.0	.5

Market Groups

The output of consumer goods decreased 0.3 percent in July, as a decline in the output of consumer durable goods more than offset an increase in the production of nondurable consumer goods. Within consumer durable goods, a drop of 6.2 percent in the output of automotive products was due mostly to a decrease in the production of autos and light trucks. Assemblies of light vehicles dropped from an annual rate of 11.2 million units in June to 10.2 million units in July. The index for appliances, furniture, and carpeting decreased 0.7 percent, whereas the indexes for both home electronics and miscellaneous goods registered gains. The production of consumer nondurable goods rose 0.8 percent for a second consecutive month. In July, the index for non-energy nondurable consumer goods increased 0.6 percent, and gains in the sector were widespread. The production of consumer energy products advanced 1.6 percent but was down 0.6 percent from its year-ago level.

The production of business equipment moved up 1.1 percent in July and was up 12.2 percent from its year-ago level. Increases in the production of information processing equipment and of industrial and other equipment more than offset a drop in the output of transit equipment. The production of defense and space equipment moved up 0.7 percent. The output of construction supplies rose 0.5 percent in July and was up 6 percent from its year-ago level. The index for business supplies advanced 0.6 percent, its fifth consecutive monthly gain.

The output of materials gained 0.6 percent in July. The index for energy materials rose 1.2 percent, while the index for non-energy materials was up 0.3 percent. Continued increases in the output of equipment parts boosted the index for durable goods materials, which rose 0.4 percent. Within nondurable materials, the production of textiles edged up, and the output of paper materials and of chemical materials declined.

Industry Groups

Manufacturing production increased 0.1 percent in July. The output of nondurable manufacturers was up 0.3 percent, while the production of durable manufacturers was unchanged. Excluding motor vehicles and parts, the output of durable goods advanced 1.0 percent. Capacity utilization in manufacturing edged down to 81.0 percent, a rate 2.4 percentage points above its year-ago level and 1.2 percentage points above its 1972-2005 average.

Within durable goods manufacturing, the production of motor vehicles and parts dropped 5.4 percent. The decline more than reversed its June increase. The index for furniture and related products also registered a decline, but production for all other major categories of durables remained unchanged or increased. The index for computer and electronic products increased 0.8 percent and stood 18.6 percent above its year-ago level. The production of wood products turned up 1.1 percent after having decreased for seven consecutive months. The index for miscellaneous manufacturing moved up 1.6 percent.

Among the major categories of nondurable manufacturing, the indexes for paper and for printing and support declined, and the indexes for chemicals and for petroleum and coal products did not change. The production of food, beverage, and tobacco products; textile and product mills; apparel and leather; and plastics and rubber products all registered gains. The output of non-NAICS manufacturing industries (publishing and logging) increased 0.5 percent.

The output of utilities jumped 2.0 percent in July, and capacity utilization for this category rose to 88.2 percent. Mining output increased 0.8 percent, its fourth consecutive monthly gain. Capacity utilization in mining moved up to 92.1 percent, its highest rate in five years.

By stage of process, capacity utilization for industries in the crude stage increased 0.5 percentage point, to 89.4 percent. For industries in the primary and semifinished stages, the operating rate rose 0.4 percentage point, to 83.7 percent; for industries in the finished stage, the utilization rate decreased 0.3 percentage point, to 79.5 percent.

Notice

Revision of Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization

The Federal Reserve Board plans to issue an annual revision to the index of industrial production (IP) and the related measures of capacity and capacity utilization this fall; the publication date is yet to be determined. The revised IP indexes will incorporate data from the 2004 Annual Survey of Manufactures and from selected editions of the 2004 and 2005 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 2004 and 2005 will also be incorporated. The updating will include revisions to the monthly indicator for each industry (either product data or input data) and to seasonal factors.

Capacity and capacity utilization will be revised to incorporate preliminary data from the Census Bureau's 2005 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 the revision is published, it will be available on the Board's website at www.federalreserve.gov/releases/G17. The revised data will also be available through the website of the Department of Commerce. Further information on these revisions can be obtained from the Board's Industrial Output Section (telephone number 202-452-3197).

Note. The statistics in this release cover output, capacity, and capacity utilization in the U.S. industrial sector, which is defined by the Federal Reserve to comprise manufacturing, mining, and electric and gas utilities. Mining is defined as all industries in sector 21 of the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS); electric and gas utilities are those in NAICS sectors 2211 and 2212. Manufacturing comprises NAICS manufacturing industries (sector 31-33) plus the logging industry and the newspaper, periodical, book, and directory publishing industries. Logging and publishing are classified elsewhere in NAICS (under agriculture and information respectively), but historically they were considered to be manufacturing and were included in the industrial sector under the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system. In December 2002 the Federal Reserve reclassified all its industrial output data from the SIC system to NAICS.

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: 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

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

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