DDP
PrintIndustrial Production and Capacity Utilization - G.17
Current Release (250 KB PDF) (ASCII)
Industrial production edged down 0.1 percent in October after having increased 0.7 percent in September. Manufacturing production rose 0.3 percent in October for its third consecutive monthly gain. The index for mining fell 1.6 percent after having risen for six consecutive months, and the output of utilities dropped 1.1 percent after having jumped 4.5 percent in September. The level of the index for total industrial production in October was equal to its 2007 average and was 3.2 percent above its year-earlier level. Capacity utilization for the industrial sector declined 0.2 percentage point in October to 78.1 percent, a rate 1.1 percentage points above its level of a year earlier and 2.1 percentage points below its long-run (1972-2012) average.
Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization: Summary
| Industrial production | 2007=100 | Percent change | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 2013 | Oct. '12 to Oct. '13 |
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| May[r] | June[r] | July[r] | Aug.[r] | Sept.[r] | Oct.[p] | May[r] | June[r] | July[r] | Aug.[r] | Sept.[r] | Oct.[p] | ||
| Total index | 99.0 | 99.2 | 99.0 | 99.5 | 100.1 | 100.0 | .2 | .2 | -.2 | .5 | .7 | -.1 | 3.2 |
| Previous estimates | 98.9 | 99.1 | 99.1 | 99.5 | 100.0 | .1 | .2 | -.1 | .4 | .6 | |||
| Major market groups | |||||||||||||
| Final Products | 96.6 | 97.0 | 96.1 | 96.5 | 97.4 | 97.4 | -.3 | .5 | -1.0 | .5 | .9 | .0 | 3.1 |
| Consumer goods | 93.9 | 94.3 | 93.2 | 93.5 | 94.2 | 94.2 | -.3 | .4 | -1.1 | .3 | .8 | -.1 | 2.5 |
| Business equipment | 102.2 | 102.8 | 102.0 | 102.7 | 103.8 | 104.0 | -.1 | .6 | -.8 | .7 | 1.1 | .2 | 5.1 |
| Nonindustrial supplies | 88.0 | 88.1 | 88.3 | 88.6 | 89.3 | 89.5 | .1 | .1 | .2 | .3 | .8 | .2 | 4.1 |
| Construction | 80.6 | 81.2 | 81.6 | 81.9 | 82.7 | 82.9 | -.5 | .7 | .5 | .4 | 1.0 | .3 | 6.6 |
| Materials | 105.0 | 105.0 | 105.5 | 106.0 | 106.5 | 106.1 | .5 | .0 | .5 | .5 | .4 | -.4 | 3.1 |
| Major industry groups | |||||||||||||
| Manufacturing (see note below) | 95.5 | 95.8 | 95.3 | 95.9 | 96.0 | 96.3 | .3 | .3 | -.5 | .7 | .1 | .3 | 3.3 |
| Previous estimates | 95.4 | 95.7 | 95.4 | 95.9 | 96.0 | .3 | .3 | -.4 | .5 | .1 | |||
| Mining | 117.6 | 118.9 | 121.0 | 121.4 | 122.6 | 120.6 | .7 | 1.1 | 1.8 | .3 | 1.0 | -1.6 | 4.8 |
| Utilities | 100.3 | 98.3 | 98.0 | 97.2 | 101.5 | 100.4 | -1.8 | -2.0 | -.2 | -.9 | 4.5 | -1.1 | .2 |
| Capacity utilization | Percent of capacity | Capacity growth |
|||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average 1972- 2012 |
1988- 89 high |
1990- 91 low |
1994- 95 high |
2009 low |
2012 Oct. |
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| 2013 | Oct. '12 to Oct. '13 |
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| May[r] | June[r] | July[r] | Aug.[r] | Sept.[r] | Oct.[p] | ||||||||
| Total industry | 80.2 | 85.2 | 78.8 | 85.0 | 66.9 | 77.0 | 77.9 | 77.9 | 77.7 | 77.9 | 78.3 | 78.1 | 1.8 |
| Previous estimates | 77.9 | 77.9 | 77.7 | 77.9 | 78.3 | ||||||||
| Manufacturing (see note below) | 78.7 | 85.6 | 77.3 | 84.6 | 64.0 | 74.9 | 76.1 | 76.2 | 75.7 | 76.1 | 76.1 | 76.2 | 1.6 |
| Previous estimates | 76.0 | 76.2 | 75.8 | 76.1 | 76.1 | ||||||||
| Mining | 87.3 | 86.3 | 83.9 | 88.6 | 78.3 | 88.3 | 88.1 | 88.7 | 90.0 | 90.0 | 90.5 | 88.7 | 4.3 |
| Utilities | 86.2 | 92.9 | 84.3 | 93.3 | 78.6 | 78.9 | 78.5 | 76.8 | 76.6 | 75.9 | 79.2 | 78.3 | .9 |
| Stage-of-process groups | |||||||||||||
| Crude | 86.3 | 87.7 | 84.4 | 89.7 | 76.4 | 86.5 | 87.0 | 87.2 | 88.1 | 88.2 | 88.3 | 87.1 | 3.4 |
| Primary and semifinished | 81.0 | 86.5 | 78.0 | 87.9 | 64.4 | 75.2 | 76.1 | 75.7 | 75.7 | 75.9 | 76.6 | 76.6 | .7 |
| Finished | 77.1 | 83.4 | 77.3 | 80.6 | 66.8 | 74.9 | 75.8 | 76.3 | 75.2 | 75.6 | 75.7 | 75.6 | 2.6 |
Market Groups
The production of consumer goods decreased 0.1 percent in October after having increased 0.8 percent in September; in October, the index stood 2.5 percent above its level of a year earlier. The output of durable consumer goods fell 0.2 percent: Gains for home electronics; appliances, furniture, and carpeting; and miscellaneous goods were outweighed by a decrease in the index for automotive products, which nevertheless stood more than 11 percent above its year-earlier level. The index for consumer nondurables was unchanged, as a small increase in the output of non-energy nondurables offset a small decline in the output of consumer energy products. Among non-energy nondurables, gains for foods and tobacco, for clothing, and for paper products were partially offset by a loss for chemical products.
The output of business equipment rose 0.2 percent in October after an average monthly gain of 0.3 percent during the third quarter. The index for transit equipment declined 0.1 percent, the index for information processing equipment rose 0.2 percent, and the index for industrial and other equipment increased 0.3 percent. Over the past 12 months, the production of business equipment has advanced 5.1 percent, with similarly sized gains in each of its three major components.
The output of defense and space equipment rose 0.5 percent in October following gains of 0.8 percent in September and 2.1 percent in August. The index for October was 3.3 percent above its year-earlier level.
Among nonindustrial supplies, construction supplies recorded its fifth consecutive monthly increase; the index moved up 0.3 percent in October and was 6.6 percent above its level of a year earlier. The output of business supplies moved up 0.2 percent in October; despite having gained 3.0 percent over the past 12 months, the index was still about 8 percent below its pre-recession peak.
In October, the production of materials to be processed further in the industrial sector decreased 0.4 percent, a decline that was driven by a drop of 1.5 percent in the production of energy materials. The output of durable materials rose 0.3 percent, as increased production of equipment parts and other durable materials more than offset a decline in the output of consumer parts. The production of nondurable materials moved up 0.4 percent; textile, paper, and chemical materials each registered gains of 0.5 percent or more, while the index for other nondurable materials was little changed.
Industry Groups
Manufacturing output rose 0.3 percent in October to a level that was 3.3 percent above a year earlier. The factory operating rate increased 0.1 percentage point to 76.2 percent, a rate 2.5 percentage points below its long-run average.
The output of durable goods moved up 0.3 percent in October and was 5.4 percent above its year-earlier level. The largest increases in October were posted by primary metals, fabricated metal products, furniture and related products, and miscellaneous manufacturing; the indexes for each advanced between 0.9 and 1.5 percent. The largest decrease was recorded by the index for motor vehicles and parts, which fell 1.3 percent after having advanced 1.9 percent in September. Capacity utilization for durable goods manufacturing was unchanged in October at 76.6 percent, a rate 0.4 percentage point below its long-run average.
After having fallen 0.4 percent in September, the production of nondurable goods increased 0.3 percent in October and was 1.5 percent above its level of a year earlier. The index for printing and support rose 1.8 percent, while small gains were recorded by most other major components of nondurables. The indexes for petroleum and coal products and for apparel and leather both fell 0.3 percent. The operating rate for nondurables moved up 0.2 percentage point to 77.1 percent, a rate 3.6 percentage points below its long-run average.
Production for non-NAICS manufacturing industries (publishing and logging) moved down 0.1 percent in October and was 2.7 percent below its year-earlier level. The operating rate for this industry group was unchanged at 60.8 percent, a rate 21.5 percentage points below its long-run average.
Mining output decreased 1.6 percent in October, its first decline in seven months. Temporary shutdowns of oil and gas rigs in the Gulf of Mexico in advance of Tropical Storm Karen contributed to this decline. The operating rate for mines dropped 1.8 percentage points to 88.7 percent, but it remained 1.4 percentage points above its long-run average. The production of utilities fell 1.1 percent in October, and the operating rate for the sector declined 0.9 percentage point to 78.3 percent, a rate 7.9 percentage points below its long-run average.
Capacity utilization rates in October for industries grouped by stage of process were as follows: At the crude stage, utilization fell 1.2 percentage points to 87.1 percent, a rate 0.8 percentage point above its long-run average; at the primary and semifinished stages, utilization was unchanged at 76.6 percent, a rate 4.4 percentage points below its long-run average; and at the finished stage, utilization edged down 0.1 percentage point to 75.6 percent, a rate 1.5 percentage points lower than its long-run average.
Rebasing of Gross Value of Products SeriesWith the publication of the G.17 statistical release on October 28, 2013, the comparison base year for the data in Table 9, Gross Value of Final Products and Nonindustrial Supplies, and in Table 10, Gross-Value-Weighted Industrial Production: Stage-of-Process Groups, was advanced to 2009 to conform with the comparison base year of the national income and product accounts issued by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
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.
