Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization - G.17

Current Release (274 KB PDF) (ASCII)

Release Date: May 17, 2016

The Federal Reserve has issued a correction to the G.17 release on Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization that was issued on May 17, 2016. Table 3 of the release contained incorrect data on unit truck assemblies and unit motor vehicle assemblies. All of the other figures in the release were correct.

Annual Revision Notice Below

Industrial production increased 0.7 percent in April after decreasing in the previous two months. Manufacturing output rose 0.3 percent after declining the same amount in March. The index for utilities jumped 5.8 percent in April, as the demand for electricity and natural gas returned to a more normal level after being suppressed by warmer-than-usual weather in March. Mining production fell 2.3 percent in April, and it has decreased more than 1 1/2 percent per month, on average, over the past eight months. At 104.1 percent of its 2012 average, total industrial production in April was 1.1 percent below its year-earlier level. Capacity utilization for the industrial sector increased 0.5 percentage point in April to 75.4 percent, a rate that is 4.6 percentage points below its long-run (1972–2015) average.

Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization: Summary

Seasonally adjusted
Industrial production 2012=100 Percent change
2015 2016 2015 2016 Apr. '15 to
Apr. '16
Nov.[r] Dec.[r] Jan.[r] Feb.[r] Mar.[r] Apr.[p] Nov.[r] Dec.[r] Jan.[r] Feb.[r] Mar.[r] Apr.[p]
       
Total index 104.5 104.0 104.6 104.4 103.5 104.1 -.6 -.4 .5 -.2 -.9 .7 -1.1
Previous estimates 104.5 104.1 104.6 104.0 103.4   -.6 -.4 .5 -.6 -.6    
       
Major market groups
Final Products 100.1 99.9 100.8 100.8 100.1 101.0 -.8 -.2 .9 .0 -.7 1.0 .2
Consumer goods 102.5 102.3 103.7 103.6 102.8 104.0 -.7 -.2 1.4 -.1 -.8 1.2 1.3
Business equipment 101.6 101.3 101.4 102.0 101.6 102.5 -1.2 -.3 .1 .5 -.3 .8 -.5
Nonindustrial supplies 106.1 105.8 106.3 106.2 105.4 105.9 .0 -.2 .5 -.1 -.8 .5 1.0
Construction 109.7 110.0 110.1 110.0 109.3 109.3 .0 .3 .0 -.1 -.6 .0 1.6
Materials 107.6 106.9 107.1 106.6 105.5 105.9 -.7 -.7 .3 -.5 -1.0 .4 -2.9
       
Major industry groups
Manufacturing (see note below) 103.1 103.0 103.4 103.4 103.1 103.4 -.3 .0 .4 .0 -.3 .3 .4
Previous estimates 103.1 103.1 103.5 103.4 103.1   -.2 .0 .4 -.1 -.3    
Mining 112.6 110.1 108.4 107.6 104.4 102.0 -1.3 -2.2 -1.6 -.7 -3.0 -2.3 -13.4
Utilities 99.6 97.9 101.6 100.5 97.2 102.8 -2.6 -1.7 3.7 -1.0 -3.3 5.8 .4

Capacity utilization Percent of capacity Capacity
growth
Average
1972-
2015
1988-
89
high
1990-
91
low
1994-
95
high
 
2009
low
 
2015
Apr.
   
2015 2016 Apr. '15 to
Apr. '16
Nov.[r] Dec.[r] Jan.[r] Feb.[r] Mar.[r] Apr.[p]
       
Total industry 80.0 85.3 78.8 85.0 66.7 76.9 75.7 75.4 75.7 75.6 74.9 75.4 1.0
Previous estimates             75.7 75.4 75.8 75.3 74.8    
       
Manufacturing (see note below) 78.5 85.6 77.3 84.6 63.8 75.6 75.3 75.2 75.5 75.4 75.1 75.3 .8
Previous estimates             75.3 75.3 75.5 75.4 75.1    
Mining 87.3 86.2 83.8 88.6 79.0 84.3 79.2 77.5 76.4 76.0 74.0 72.5 .6
Utilities 85.8 93.2 84.7 93.2 78.2 78.8 76.4 75.1 77.8 77.0 74.4 78.6 .6
       
Stage-of-process groups
Crude 86.3 87.6 84.5 90.1 77.0 82.6 78.9 77.4 76.9 76.4 75.5 74.5 .5
Primary and semifinished 80.6 86.5 78.1 87.8 63.8 76.3 75.6 75.3 75.9 75.6 74.6 75.6 .8
Finished 77.0 83.4 77.3 80.6 66.6 75.4 74.9 74.8 75.2 75.3 75.1 75.4 1.0
r Revised. p Preliminary.
Market Groups

The indexes for all major market groups either increased or were unchanged in April. The rise in the output of utilities contributed significantly to gains in the indexes for consumer goods, business supplies, and materials through their energy components. Among consumer goods, the output of durables rose 1.3 percent, and the production of non-energy nondurables moved up 0.3 percent. The increase for non-energy nondurables reflected gains for foods and tobacco and for chemical products that were partly offset by decreases for clothing and paper. The production of business equipment advanced 0.8 percent, mostly because of a sizable increase for industrial and other equipment. The indexes for defense and space equipment, construction supplies, and non-energy business supplies were little changed. The output of non-energy materials moved up 0.1 percent as a result of an increase in its durable component; the production of nondurable materials edged down.

Industry Groups

Manufacturing output increased 0.3 percent in April. The production of durables rose 0.6 percent; the largest gains were recorded by machinery and by motor vehicles and parts, with increases of about 2 1/2 percent and 1 1/4 percent, respectively. Only a few durable goods industries posted declines, with the largest, about 1 1/4 percent, for primary metals. The output of nondurable manufacturing was unchanged in April, as gains in the indexes for food, beverage, and tobacco products and for plastics and rubber products offset declines for nearly all of the other industries. The output of other manufacturing (publishing and logging) declined 0.4 percent.

The drop of 2.3 percent for mining in April reflected substantial cutbacks in oil and natural gas extraction as well as reductions in coal mining and in oil and gas well drilling and servicing. The index for coal mining has fallen nearly 40 percent over the past 12 months. The increase of 5.8 percent in the output of utilities was its largest since February 2007, when it leapt 6.2 percent. In April, electric utilities and natural gas utilities expanded 5.4 percent and 9.3 percent, respectively.

Capacity utilization for manufacturing increased 0.2 percentage point in April to 75.3 percent, a rate that is 3.2 percentage points below its long-run average. The operating rate for durables increased 0.4 percentage point, while the rates for nondurables and other manufacturing (publishing and logging) edged down. The operating rate for mining dropped to 72.5 percent, the lowest rate over the history of this series, while capacity utilization for utilities jumped 4.2 percentage points to 78.6 percent.[1]

Revision of Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization

The Federal Reserve Board issued its annual revision to the index of industrial production (IP) and the related measures of capacity utilization on April 1, 2016. New annual benchmark data for 2014 for manufacturing were incorporated, as well as other annual data, including information on the mining of metallic and nonmetallic minerals (except fuels). The updated IP indexes included revisions to monthly indicators (either product data or input data) and to seasonal factors for each industry. In addition, the estimation methods for some series were changed. Modifications to the methods for estimating the output of an industry affected the index from 1972 to the present.

Capacity and capacity utilization were revised to incorporate data through the fourth quarter of 2015 from the U.S. Census Bureau's Quarterly Survey of Plant Capacity along with new data on capacity from the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. Department of Energy, and other organizations.

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.

[1] These measures are based on the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) and start in 1972. Prior to 1972, industrial production and capacity utilization are computed from indexes based on the Standard Industrial Classification system instead of NAICS.
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G.17 Release Tables:

Summary: Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization
Chart 1: Industrial Production, Capacity, and Capacity Utilization
Chart 2: Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization
Chart 3: Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization, High Technology Industries
Table 1: Industrial Production: Market and Industry Groups (percent change)
Table 2: Industrial Production: Special Aggregates and Selected Detail (percent change)
Table 3: Motor Vehicle Assemblies
Table 4: Industrial Production Indexes: Market and Industry Group Summary
Table 5: Industrial Production Indexes: Special Aggregates
Table 6: Diffusion Indexes of Industrial Production
Table 7: Capacity Utilization: Manufacturing, Mining, and Utilities
Table 8: Industrial Capacity: Manufacturing, Mining, and Utilities (percent change)
Table 9: Industrial Production: Gross Value of Products and Nonindustrial Supplies
Table 10: Gross-Value-Weighted Industrial Production: Stage-of-Process Groups
Table 11: Historical Statistics for IP, Capacity, and Utilization: Total Industry
Table 12: Historical Statistics for IP, Capacity, and Utilization: Manufacturing
Table 13: Historical Statistics for IP, Capacity, and Utilization: Total Industry excluding Selected High-Technology Industries
Table 14: Historical Statistics for IP, Capacity, and Utilization: Manufacturing excluding Selected High-Technology Industries

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Last update: May 20, 2016