INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION AND CAPACITY UTILIZATION
Industrial production advanced 0.5 percent in June after having fallen 0.2 percent in May. Industrial
production for the second quarter as a whole dropped 3.1 percent (annual rate) from the first quarter.
Manufacturing output gained 0.2 percent in June and was boosted by a jump of 5.4 percent in the output of
motor vehicles and parts; activity resumed at motor vehicle parts and assembly plants that had been idled
by a strike that began in late February and ended in late May. Excluding motor vehicles and parts, factory
output edged down 0.1 percent. Outside of manufacturing, the output at mines increased 1.1 percent, and
the output at utilities was up 2.1 percent. At 111.7 percent of its 2002 average, total industrial
production was 0.3 percent above its level of a year earlier. In June, the capacity utilization rate for
total industry moved up to 79.9 percent, a level 1.1 percentage points below its average for 1972-2007.
Industrial production |
2002=100 | Percent change | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2008 | 2008 | June '07 to June '08 |
|||||||||||
Jan.[r] | Feb.[r] | Mar.[r] | Apr.[r] | May[r] | June[p] | Jan.[r] | Feb.[r] | Mar.[r] | Apr.[r] | May[r] | June[p] | ||
Total index | 112.6 | 112.2 | 112.2 | 111.4 | 111.2 | 111.7 | .2 | -.4 | .1 | -.7 | -.2 | .5 | .3 |
Previous estimates | 112.5 | 111.8 | 111.9 | 111.1 | 110.9 | .1 | -.6 | .1 | -.7 | -.2 | |||
Major market groups | |||||||||||||
Final Products | 114.0 | 113.7 | 113.4 | 112.2 | 112.1 | 112.8 | .4 | -.3 | -.2 | -1.1 | -.1 | .7 | -.1 |
Consumer goods | 108.0 | 107.8 | 107.2 | 106.1 | 105.9 | 106.7 | .6 | -.2 | -.5 | -1.0 | -.2 | .7 | -.8 |
Business equipment | 131.4 | 131.1 | 132.0 | 129.8 | 130.0 | 130.3 | .2 | -.2 | .7 | -1.7 | .2 | .2 | 1.6 |
Nonindustrial supplies | 107.7 | 107.0 | 107.1 | 106.5 | 106.2 | 106.1 | .1 | -.6 | .1 | -.6 | -.2 | -.1 | -1.9 |
Construction | 103.6 | 102.3 | 102.1 | 101.0 | 101.4 | 100.6 | -.6 | -1.3 | -.2 | -1.1 | .5 | -.9 | -6.3 |
Materials | 113.0 | 112.6 | 112.9 | 112.4 | 112.1 | 112.7 | -.1 | -.4 | .3 | -.4 | -.3 | .5 | 1.5 |
Major industry groups | |||||||||||||
Manufacturing (see note below) | 113.8 | 113.1 | 113.4 | 112.3 | 112.3 | 112.5 | .0 | -.7 | .2 | -.9 | -.1 | .2 | -.6 |
Previous estimates | 113.8 | 113.0 | 113.3 | 112.3 | 112.3 | .0 | -.7 | .2 | -.9 | .0 | |||
Mining | 103.2 | 103.6 | 103.7 | 103.3 | 103.6 | 104.7 | -.7 | .3 | .1 | -.4 | .3 | 1.1 | 3.8 |
Utilities | 110.8 | 112.1 | 110.4 | 110.8 | 108.5 | 110.8 | 2.4 | 1.1 | -1.5 | .4 | -2.1 | 2.1 | 4.0 |
Capacity utilization |
Percent of capacity |
Capacity growth |
|||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Average 1972- 2007 |
1988- 89 high |
1990- 91 low |
1994- 95 high |
2001- 02 low |
2007 June |
||||||||
2008 | June '07 to June '08 |
||||||||||||
Jan.[r] | Feb.[r] | Mar.[r] | Apr.[r] | May[r] | June[p] | ||||||||
Total industry | 81.0 | 85.0 | 78.6 | 85.1 | 73.6 | 81.0 | 81.0 | 80.3 | 80.5 | 79.9 | 79.6 | 79.9 | 1.8 |
Previous estimates | 81.0 | 80.3 | 80.3 | 79.6 | 79.4 | ||||||||
Manufacturing (see note below) | 79.7 | 85.4 | 77.1 | 84.6 | 71.5 | 79.6 | 79.1 | 78.4 | 78.5 | 77.7 | 77.6 | 77.6 | 2.0 |
Previous estimates | 79.1 | 78.4 | 78.5 | 77.7 | 77.5 | ||||||||
Mining | 87.5 | 86.3 | 83.6 | 88.7 | 84.8 | 88.8 | 90.4 | 90.5 | 90.5 | 90.1 | 90.3 | 91.2 | 1.0 |
Utilities | 86.8 | 92.7 | 84.1 | 93.9 | 84.6 | 85.0 | 87.5 | 85.8 | 86.7 | 86.9 | 84.9 | 86.5 | 2.2 |
Stage-of-process groups | |||||||||||||
Crude | 86.6 | 88.3 | 84.4 | 89.5 | 81.9 | 88.2 | 89.4 | 89.4 | 89.6 | 89.1 | 89.6 | 89.7 | .8 |
Primary and semifinished | 82.2 | 86.4 | 77.8 | 88.2 | 74.6 | 81.7 | 81.4 | 80.3 | 80.6 | 80.2 | 79.6 | 79.9 | 2.2 |
Finished | 77.7 | 82.8 | 77.1 | 80.4 | 69.9 | 77.7 | 77.5 | 77.0 | 77.1 | 75.9 | 75.8 | 76.0 | 1.9 |
Market Groups
The production of consumer goods increased 0.7 percent in June. The output of automotive products surged 6.2 percent, but other major categories of consumer durables posted declines. The indexes for appliances, furniture, and carpeting and for miscellaneous consumer goods both fell; although the index for home electronics also declined in June, it increased 24.3 percent (annual rate) in the second quarter. The production of nondurable goods advanced 0.2 percent in June. Higher output of both fuels and electricity helped push the index for consumer energy products up 1.2 percent. Non-energy nondurable consumer goods declined 0.1 percent, as a drop in the production of foods and tobacco more than offset increases in the output of clothing, chemical products, and paper products. For the second quarter, the indexes for clothing, chemical products, and paper products all fell, but the index for foods and tobacco posted an increase.
The output of business equipment rose 0.2 percent in June. Production of transit equipment was up 1.7 percent, and the index for information processing and related equipment increased 1.1 percent. The output of industrial and other equipment fell 0.8 percent, and for the second quarter as a whole, this index declined at an annual rate of 10.6 percent.
The output of defense and space equipment increased 1.2 percent in June after having fallen in the previous four months.
Among nonindustrial supplies, the production of construction supplies was off 0.9 percent in June; it dropped 6.5 percent (annual rate) in the second quarter. The index for business supplies edged up 0.1 percent in June, but it still fell 2.7 percent (annual rate) for the second quarter as a whole.
Materials output increased 0.5 percent in June, in part because of an increase of 1.0 percent in energy materials. Excluding energy, materials output moved up 0.3 percent. The production of durable materials advanced 0.7 percent: A pickup in the production of motor vehicle parts boosted the index for consumer parts, and an increase in the index for semiconductors, printed circuit boards, and other equipment helped push up the index for equipment parts. The production of nondurable materials fell 0.4 percent, with declines in all the major components: textiles, paper, and chemicals.
Industry Groups
Production in manufacturing increased 0.2 percent in June. The factory operating rate was unchanged at 77.6 percent, a level 2.1 percentage points below its 1972-2007 average. For the second quarter as a whole, manufacturing output decreased 3.7 percent (annual rate); this index has posted declines for the past three quarters. Production of durable goods rose 0.7 percent in June. In addition to the jump in the output of motor vehicles and parts, the indexes for wood products, primary metals, computer and electronic products, and aerospace and miscellaneous transportation equipment all posted gains. The indexes for nonmetallic mineral products, fabricated metal products, machinery, furniture and related products, and miscellaneous manufacturing moved lower. The output of nondurable goods fell 0.3 percent. Declines in the indexes for food, beverage, and tobacco products; textiles and product mills; paper; printing and support; and chemicals were only partly offset by higher output of apparel and leather products, petroleum and coal products, and plastics and rubber products.
The index for other manufacturing industries (non-NAICS), which consist of logging and publishing, rose 0.8 percent.
The output of electric and gas utilities increased 2.1 percent in June, and the operating rate for utilities moved up 1.6 percentage points, to 86.5 percent. Mining production advanced 1.1 percent, and capacity utilization in this industry rose to 91.2 percent, a rate 3.7 percentage points above its 1972-2007 average.
Capacity utilization rates at industries grouped by stage of process were as follows: For the crude stage, utilization edged up 0.1 percentage point, to 89.7 percent, a rate 3.1 percentage points above its 1972-2007 average; for the primary and semifinished stages, utilization moved up 0.3 percentage point, to 79.9 percent, a rate 2.3 percentage points below its long-run average; and for the finished stage, utilization increased 0.2 percentage point, to 76.0 percent, a rate 1.7 percentage points below its long-run average.
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 |