DDP
PrintIndustrial Production and Capacity Utilization - G.17
Current Release (248 KB PDF) (ASCII)
Industrial production increased 0.4 percent in July for its sixth consecutive monthly gain. Manufacturing output advanced 1.0 percent in July, its largest increase since February. The production of motor vehicles and parts jumped 10.1 percent, while output in the rest of the manufacturing sector rose 0.4 percent. The production at mines moved up 0.3 percent, its ninth consecutive monthly increase. The output of utilities dropped 3.4 percent, as weather that was milder than usual for July reduced demand for air conditioning. At 104.4 percent of its 2007 average, total industrial production in July was 5.0 percent above its year-earlier level. Capacity utilization for total industry edged up 0.1 percentage point to 79.2 percent in July, a rate 1.7 percentage points above its level of a year earlier and 0.9 percentage point below its long-run (1972–2013) average.
Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization: Summary
| Industrial production | 2007=100 | Percent change | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 2014 | July '13 to July '14 |
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| Feb.[r] | Mar.[r] | Apr.[r] | May[r] | June[r] | July[p] | Feb.[r] | Mar.[r] | Apr.[r] | May[r] | June[r] | July[p] | ||
| Total index | 102.3 | 103.1 | 103.2 | 103.5 | 103.9 | 104.4 | .9 | .9 | .1 | .3 | .4 | .4 | 5.0 |
| Previous estimates | 102.2 | 103.2 | 103.2 | 103.7 | 103.9 | .9 | .9 | .0 | .5 | .2 | |||
| Major market groups | |||||||||||||
| Final Products | 99.7 | 100.5 | 100.2 | 100.1 | 100.2 | 100.9 | 1.7 | .8 | -.3 | -.1 | .1 | .7 | 4.9 |
| Consumer goods | 97.3 | 98.0 | 97.4 | 97.0 | 97.2 | 97.6 | 1.6 | .8 | -.6 | -.5 | .2 | .5 | 4.3 |
| Business equipment | 104.9 | 105.8 | 106.2 | 106.9 | 106.7 | 108.1 | 2.4 | .9 | .3 | .7 | -.3 | 1.3 | 7.0 |
| Nonindustrial supplies | 90.6 | 90.8 | 90.4 | 91.1 | 91.1 | 91.3 | .5 | .2 | -.4 | .7 | .0 | .2 | 3.2 |
| Construction | 83.0 | 83.7 | 83.0 | 84.1 | 84.7 | 85.4 | .9 | .8 | -.8 | 1.3 | .7 | .8 | 5.3 |
| Materials | 108.7 | 109.9 | 110.4 | 111.1 | 111.9 | 112.2 | .5 | 1.0 | .5 | .6 | .7 | .3 | 5.5 |
| Major industry groups | |||||||||||||
| Manufacturing (see note below) | 98.0 | 98.8 | 99.1 | 99.5 | 99.8 | 100.7 | 1.3 | .9 | .3 | .3 | .3 | 1.0 | 4.9 |
| Previous estimates | 98.0 | 98.8 | 99.1 | 99.6 | 99.7 | 1.3 | .9 | .3 | .4 | .1 | |||
| Mining | 123.0 | 125.0 | 127.7 | 128.4 | 130.1 | 130.5 | .1 | 1.7 | 2.1 | .6 | 1.3 | .3 | 8.6 |
| Utilities | 107.0 | 106.5 | 101.0 | 101.1 | 100.4 | 96.9 | -.3 | -.5 | -5.1 | .0 | -.7 | -3.4 | -1.0 |
| Capacity utilization | Percent of capacity | Capacity growth |
|||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average 1972- 2013 |
1988- 89 high |
1990- 91 low |
1994- 95 high |
2009 low |
2013 July |
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| 2014 | July '13 to July '14 |
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| Feb.[r] | Mar.[r] | Apr.[r] | May[r] | June[r] | July[p] | ||||||||
| Total industry | 80.1 | 85.3 | 78.7 | 85.0 | 66.9 | 77.5 | 78.6 | 79.1 | 79.0 | 79.0 | 79.1 | 79.2 | 2.7 |
| Previous estimates | 78.6 | 79.1 | 79.0 | 79.1 | 79.1 | ||||||||
| Manufacturing (see note below) | 78.7 | 85.6 | 77.3 | 84.6 | 63.9 | 75.6 | 76.4 | 76.9 | 77.0 | 77.1 | 77.2 | 77.8 | 2.1 |
| Previous estimates | 76.3 | 76.9 | 77.0 | 77.2 | 77.1 | ||||||||
| Mining | 87.3 | 86.3 | 83.8 | 88.5 | 78.8 | 88.4 | 87.5 | 88.3 | 89.5 | 89.4 | 89.9 | 89.4 | 7.3 |
| Utilities | 86.1 | 92.9 | 84.3 | 93.3 | 78.5 | 77.4 | 84.2 | 83.7 | 79.4 | 79.3 | 78.7 | 75.9 | .9 |
| Stage-of-process groups | |||||||||||||
| Crude | 86.3 | 87.7 | 84.4 | 89.6 | 76.8 | 86.8 | 85.8 | 86.3 | 87.3 | 87.2 | 87.3 | 87.0 | 5.8 |
| Primary and semifinished | 80.8 | 86.5 | 77.9 | 87.7 | 64.2 | 75.5 | 77.7 | 78.0 | 77.2 | 77.3 | 77.6 | 77.4 | 1.6 |
| Finished | 77.1 | 83.4 | 77.4 | 80.6 | 66.8 | 75.6 | 76.3 | 77.0 | 77.0 | 77.0 | 76.9 | 77.6 | 2.6 |
Market Groups
The production of consumer goods increased 0.5 percent in July and stood 4.3 percent above its year-earlier level. In July, the output of durable consumer goods increased 4.7 percent. Within consumer durables, the index for automotive products jumped 8.5 percent and the indexes for home electronics and for appliances, furniture, and carpeting also posted solid, albeit smaller, gains. The index for nondurable consumer goods contracted 0.7 percent. The production of non-energy nondurables decreased 0.4 percent, with declines in foods and tobacco and in paper products. The output of consumer energy products moved down 1.6 percent, its fifth consecutive monthly decline.
In July, the production of business equipment rose 1.3 percent, led by a gain of 3.9 percent in the output of transit equipment. The index for information processing equipment edged up 0.1 percent, and the index for industrial and other equipment increased 0.7 percent.
The production of defense and space equipment advanced 0.9 percent in July. The index was 4.3 percent above its year-earlier level.
Among nonindustrial supplies, the production of construction supplies moved up 0.8 percent in July and the index for business supplies was unchanged. Despite steady gains over the past several years, the output of construction supplies in July was still about 15 percent below its pre-recession peak.
The output of materials to be processed further in the industrial sector rose 0.3 percent in July and was 5.5 percent above its year-earlier level. The production of durable materials increased 1.1 percent in July; among its components, the index for consumer parts advanced 4.2 percent, while equipment parts and other durable materials both registered smaller gains. The output of nondurable materials increased 0.6 percent. Textile materials recorded the largest gain among the components of nondurable materials, 2.4 percent, while paper and chemical materials each posted smaller increases. After having advanced for four consecutive months, the index for energy materials declined 0.6 percent in July.
Industry Groups
Manufacturing production increased 1.0 percent in July and was 4.9 percent above its year-earlier level. The factory operating rate advanced 0.6 percentage point in July to 77.8 percent, a rate 0.9 percentage point below its long-run average.
The production of durable goods increased 1.7 percent in July and was 8.2 percent higher than its year-earlier level. In July, the gain in durables was led by an increase of 10.1 percent in the index for motor vehicles and parts, which was the largest since the index jumped 26.9 percent in July 2009. All of the other major durable goods industries, with the exception of miscellaneous manufacturing, recorded increases, with the largest gain registered by furniture and related products. Capacity utilization for durable goods manufacturing rose 1.1 percentage points to 78.6 percent, a rate 1.6 percentage points above its long-run average.
The production of nondurables increased 0.3 percent in July and has moved up 2.1 percent over the past 12 months. Among the major components of nondurables, the indexes for textile and product mills, for apparel and leather, and for petroleum and coal products posted gains of between 1 and 2 percent in July. The index for chemicals rose 0.6 percent, while the indexes for the other major categories of nondurables were little changed. Capacity utilization for nondurable goods manufacturing edged up 0.1 percentage point to 78.4 percent, a rate 2.3 percentage points below its long-run average.
Production for non-NAICS manufacturing industries (publishing and logging) fell 1.6 percent in July and was 5.0 percent less than it was a year earlier.
The output of mines increased 0.3 percent in July and has advanced 8.6 percent over the past 12 months. Capacity utilization at mines decreased 0.5 percentage point in July to 89.4 percent, a rate 2.1 percentage points above its long-run average. The output of utilities decreased 3.4 percent, and its operating rate declined 2.8 percentage points to 75.9 percent, a rate 10.2 percentage points below its long-run average.
Capacity utilization rates in July for industries grouped by stage of process were as follows: At the crude stage, utilization decreased 0.3 percentage point to 87.0 percent, a rate 0.7 percentage point above its long-run average; at the primary and semifinished stages, utilization declined 0.2 percentage point to 77.4 percent, a rate 3.4 percentage points below its long-run average; and at the finished stage, utilization moved up 0.7 percentage point to 77.6 percent, a rate 0.5 percentage point above 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.
