DDP
PrintIndustrial Production and Capacity Utilization - G.17
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The index of industrial production edged down 0.1 percent in August, and the index for manufacturing output decreased 0.4 percent; the declines were the first for each since January. The gains in July for both indexes were revised down. The declines in total industrial production and in manufacturing output in August reflected a decrease of 7.6 percent in the production of motor vehicles and parts, which had jumped more than 9 percent in July. Excluding motor vehicles and parts, factory output rose 0.1 percent in both July and August. The production at mines moved up 0.5 percent in August, and the output of utilities rose 1.0 percent. At 104.1 percent of its 2007 average, total industrial production in August was 4.1 percent above its year-earlier level. Capacity utilization for total industry decreased 0.3 percentage point in August to 78.8 percent, a rate 1.0 percentage point above its level of a year earlier and 1.3 percentage points below its long-run (1972–2013) average.
Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization: Summary
| Industrial production | 2007=100 | Percent change | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 2014 | Aug. '13 to Aug. '14 |
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| Mar.[r] | Apr.[r] | May[r] | June[r] | July[r] | Aug.[p] | Mar.[r] | Apr.[r] | May[r] | June[r] | July[r] | Aug.[p] | ||
| Total index | 103.1 | 103.2 | 103.7 | 104.0 | 104.2 | 104.1 | .8 | .1 | .5 | .3 | .2 | -.1 | 4.1 |
| Previous estimates | 103.1 | 103.2 | 103.5 | 103.9 | 104.4 | .9 | .1 | .3 | .4 | .4 | |||
| Major market groups | |||||||||||||
| Final Products | 100.4 | 100.2 | 100.1 | 99.9 | 100.8 | 100.2 | .8 | -.2 | -.1 | -.2 | .8 | -.6 | 3.5 |
| Consumer goods | 97.9 | 97.4 | 97.0 | 96.7 | 97.5 | 96.7 | .7 | -.6 | -.4 | -.2 | .7 | -.8 | 2.8 |
| Business equipment | 105.8 | 106.3 | 107.2 | 106.9 | 108.2 | 108.2 | .9 | .4 | .8 | -.3 | 1.2 | .0 | 5.7 |
| Nonindustrial supplies | 90.7 | 90.4 | 91.0 | 91.0 | 91.2 | 91.5 | .1 | -.4 | .7 | .0 | .2 | .4 | 3.2 |
| Construction | 83.6 | 82.9 | 84.0 | 84.5 | 85.6 | 85.7 | .7 | -.8 | 1.3 | .6 | 1.3 | .1 | 5.4 |
| Materials | 109.9 | 110.4 | 111.3 | 112.2 | 112.0 | 112.1 | 1.1 | .4 | .8 | .9 | -.3 | .1 | 4.9 |
| Major industry groups | |||||||||||||
| Manufacturing (see note below) | 98.8 | 99.1 | 99.5 | 99.8 | 100.6 | 100.2 | .8 | .3 | .4 | .3 | .7 | -.4 | 3.6 |
| Previous estimates | 98.8 | 99.1 | 99.5 | 99.8 | 100.7 | .9 | .3 | .3 | .3 | 1.0 | |||
| Mining | 125.1 | 127.6 | 128.8 | 130.8 | 130.5 | 131.2 | 1.7 | 2.0 | .9 | 1.6 | -.3 | .5 | 8.7 |
| Utilities | 106.5 | 101.0 | 101.2 | 99.3 | 96.5 | 97.6 | -.5 | -5.1 | .2 | -2.0 | -2.7 | 1.0 | .0 |
| Capacity utilization | Percent of capacity | Capacity growth |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average 1972- 2013 |
1988- 89 high |
1990- 91 low |
1994- 95 high |
2009 low |
2013 Aug. |
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| 2014 | Aug. '13 to Aug. '14 |
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| Mar.[r] | Apr.[r] | May[r] | June[r] | July[r] | Aug.[p] | ||||||||
| Total industry | 80.1 | 85.3 | 78.7 | 85.0 | 66.9 | 77.8 | 79.1 | 78.9 | 79.1 | 79.1 | 79.1 | 78.8 | 2.8 |
| Previous estimates | 79.1 | 79.0 | 79.0 | 79.1 | 79.2 | ||||||||
| Manufacturing (see note below) | 78.7 | 85.6 | 77.3 | 84.6 | 63.9 | 76.1 | 76.8 | 77.0 | 77.1 | 77.2 | 77.6 | 77.2 | 2.1 |
| Previous estimates | 76.9 | 77.0 | 77.1 | 77.2 | 77.8 | ||||||||
| Mining | 87.3 | 86.3 | 83.8 | 88.5 | 78.8 | 88.4 | 88.3 | 89.5 | 89.6 | 90.3 | 89.4 | 89.1 | 7.8 |
| Utilities | 86.1 | 92.9 | 84.3 | 93.3 | 78.5 | 77.1 | 83.7 | 79.4 | 79.5 | 77.8 | 75.6 | 76.4 | .9 |
| Stage-of-process groups | |||||||||||||
| Crude | 86.3 | 87.7 | 84.4 | 89.6 | 76.8 | 86.9 | 86.4 | 87.4 | 87.5 | 87.7 | 87.1 | 86.8 | 6.2 |
| Primary and semifinished | 80.8 | 86.5 | 77.9 | 87.7 | 64.2 | 75.8 | 77.9 | 77.1 | 77.3 | 77.4 | 77.0 | 76.9 | 1.7 |
| Finished | 77.1 | 83.4 | 77.4 | 80.6 | 66.8 | 76.0 | 77.0 | 77.0 | 77.1 | 77.0 | 77.6 | 77.0 | 2.5 |
Market Groups
The production of consumer goods decreased 0.8 percent in August after having risen a similar amount in July. In August, the index stood 2.8 percent above its year-earlier level. The output of durable consumer goods declined 4.4 percent in August mainly because of a drop of 7.0 percent in the production of automotive products. Among the other components of consumer durables, the index for home electronics rose, while the indexes for miscellaneous goods and for appliances, furniture, and carpeting fell. Following four months of declines, the index for nondurable consumer goods rose 0.3 percent. The production of non-energy nondurables increased 0.5 percent, with gains in foods and tobacco and in chemical products. The output of consumer energy products moved down 0.2 percent after having increased in July for the first time in five months.
In August, the production of business equipment was unchanged, as increases in the indexes for information processing and for industrial and other equipment offset a decrease in the index for transit equipment.
The production of defense and space equipment declined 0.7 percent in August for its first decrease since January. In August, the index was 0.8 percent above its level of a year earlier.
Among nonindustrial supplies, the production of construction supplies edged up 0.1 percent in August following an increase of 1.3 percent in July. Despite steady gains over the past several years, the output of construction supplies in August was still about 15 percent below its pre-recession peak. The index for business supplies rose 0.6 percent in August.
The output of materials to be processed further in the industrial sector rose 0.1 percent in August and was 4.9 percent above its year-earlier level. A sharp drop in the production of consumer parts led to a decrease of 0.5 percent in the index for durable materials in August. The output of nondurable materials increased 0.2 percent, as gains for paper materials and chemical materials outweighed a loss for textile materials. The index for energy materials rose 0.6 percent in August for its fifth increase in the past six months.
Industry Groups
Manufacturing production decreased 0.4 percent in August after having gained 0.7 percent in July. The factory operating rate dropped 0.4 percentage point in August to 77.2 percent, a rate 1.5 percentage points below its long-run average.
The production of durable goods declined 0.9 percent in August but was 5.6 percent higher than its year-earlier level. In August, the decrease in durables largely reflected the drop in the index for motor vehicles and parts. After being elevated in July, the level of motor vehicle assemblies in August was roughly the same as in May and June. Overall production for the other durable goods industries was unchanged, with the largest loss among major industries, 1.3 percent, registered by fabricated metal products and the largest gain, also 1.3 percent, posted by computer and electronics products. Capacity utilization for durable goods manufacturing fell 1.0 percentage point to 77.5 percent, a rate 0.5 percentage point above its long-run average.
The production of nondurables increased 0.2 percent in August and has moved up 2.2 percent over the past 12 months. Among the major components of nondurables, the index for apparel and leather posted a loss of 2.3 percent, while the indexes for textile and product mills and for printing and support activities posted losses of less than 1.0 percent. The indexes for other major categories of nondurables were either unchanged or recorded small gains: The largest increases were for food, beverage, and tobacco products and for chemicals. Capacity utilization for nondurable goods manufacturing edged up 0.1 percentage point to 78.5 percent, a rate 2.2 percentage points below its long-run average.
Production for non-NAICS manufacturing industries (publishing and logging) fell 0.2 percent in August and was 7.8 percent less than it was a year earlier.
The output of mines increased 0.5 percent in August and has advanced 8.7 percent over the past 12 months. Capacity utilization at mines decreased 0.3 percentage point in August to 89.1 percent, a rate 1.8 percentage points above its long-run average. The output of utilities increased 1.0 percent; the operating rate for utilities rose 0.8 percentage point to 76.4 percent, a rate 9.7 percentage points below its long-run average.
Capacity utilization rates in August for industries grouped by stage of process were as follows: At the crude stage, utilization decreased 0.3 percentage point to 86.8 percent, a rate 0.5 percentage point above its long-run average; at the primary and semifinished stages, utilization declined 0.1 percentage point to 76.9 percent, a rate 3.9 percentage points below its long-run average; and at the finished stage, utilization moved down 0.6 percentage point to 77.0 percent, a rate just 0.1 percentage point 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.
