Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization - G.17

Current Release (272 KB PDF) (ASCII)

Release Date: October 17, 2016

Industrial production edged up 0.1 percent in September after falling 0.5 percent in August. For the third quarter as a whole, industrial production rose at an annual rate of 1.8 percent for its first quarterly increase since the third quarter of 2015. Manufacturing output increased 0.2 percent in September and moved up at an annual rate of 0.9 percent in the third quarter. In September, the index for utilities declined 1.0 percent; mining posted a gain of 0.4 percent, which partially reversed its August decline. At 104.2 percent of its 2012 average, total industrial production in September was 1.0 percent lower than its year-earlier level. Capacity utilization for the industrial sector edged up 0.1 percentage point in September 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
2016 2016 Sept. '15 to
Sept. '16
Apr.[r] May[r] June[r] July[r] Aug.[r] Sept.[p] Apr.[r] May[r] June[r] July[r] Aug.[r] Sept.[p]
       
Total index 103.8 103.7 104.2 104.7 104.2 104.2 .4 -.2 .5 .5 -.5 .1 -1.0
Previous estimates 103.9 103.7 104.3 104.9 104.4   .5 -.2 .5 .6 -.4    
       
Major market groups
Final Products 100.7 100.4 101.0 101.2 101.0 101.1 1.1 -.3 .6 .3 -.2 .1 -.2
Consumer goods 103.6 103.2 103.9 104.3 104.1 104.3 1.4 -.4 .7 .4 -.2 .2 .8
Business equipment 102.2 102.0 102.6 102.7 102.1 101.9 1.0 -.2 .6 .1 -.5 -.2 -1.4
Nonindustrial supplies 105.5 105.1 105.1 105.8 104.6 105.3 .0 -.3 .0 .7 -1.2 .7 .3
Construction 110.0 109.2 108.5 109.6 108.1 109.0 -.2 -.8 -.6 1.0 -1.4 .8 1.3
Materials 105.7 105.7 106.5 107.1 106.5 106.3 -.2 .0 .7 .6 -.6 -.2 -2.2
       
Major industry groups
Manufacturing (see note below) 103.0 102.8 103.0 103.5 102.9 103.1 .1 -.2 .2 .4 -.5 .2 .0
Previous estimates 103.0 102.8 103.0 103.4 103.0   .1 -.2 .2 .4 -.4    
Mining 102.9 103.7 103.8 104.9 103.9 104.3 -3.2 .8 .1 1.1 -1.0 .4 -9.4
Utilities 102.3 101.8 104.8 105.1 104.9 103.8 6.2 -.5 2.9 .3 -.3 -1.0 -.4

Capacity utilization Percent of capacity Capacity
growth
Average
1972-
2015
1988-
89
high
1990-
91
low
1994-
95
high
 
2009
low
 
2015
Sept.
   
2016 Sept. '15 to
Sept. '16
Apr.[r] May[r] June[r] July[r] Aug.[r] Sept.[p]
       
Total industry 80.0 85.3 78.8 85.0 66.7 76.4 75.2 75.1 75.4 75.8 75.3 75.4 .4
Previous estimates             75.2 75.1 75.5 75.9 75.5    
       
Manufacturing (see note below) 78.5 85.6 77.3 84.6 63.8 75.5 75.0 74.8 75.0 75.2 74.8 74.9 .7
Previous estimates             75.1 74.8 75.0 75.2 74.8    
Mining 87.3 86.2 83.8 88.6 79.0 81.0 73.2 74.0 74.4 75.5 75.0 75.5 -2.9
Utilities 85.8 93.2 84.7 93.2 78.2 80.0 78.2 77.8 80.0 80.2 80.0 79.1 .7
       
Stage-of-process groups
Crude 86.3 87.6 84.5 90.1 77.0 80.0 74.2 75.0 75.3 76.2 75.7 75.9 -2.2
Primary and semifinished 80.6 86.5 78.1 87.8 63.8 76.3 75.3 75.0 75.7 76.0 75.5 75.4 .9
Finished 77.0 83.4 77.3 80.6 66.6 75.4 75.3 75.1 75.2 75.3 75.0 75.1 .7
r Revised. p Preliminary.
Market Groups

The output of consumer goods rose 0.2 percent in September. The production of consumer durables advanced 0.6 percent, with nearly all of its major components recording increases. The index for consumer non-energy nondurables moved up 0.2 percent, reflecting gains for chemical products and clothing, but the output of consumer energy products dropped 1.0 percent. Business equipment posted a decline of 0.2 percent as a result of decreases for both transit equipment and information processing equipment. The output of defense and space equipment moved down 0.4 percent. Construction supplies and business supplies each recorded an increase of about 3/4 percent in September that partially reversed a larger loss in August. The production of materials fell 0.2 percent in September, as declines in durable materials and energy materials outweighed a gain for nondurable materials. The decrease for durable materials reflected reductions for both consumer parts and equipment parts. The improvement for nondurable materials was broadly based.

Industry Groups

Manufacturing output rose 0.2 percent in September and was unchanged from its year-earlier level. In September, the production of durables remained unchanged, the production of nondurables increased 0.5 percent, and the production of other manufacturing (publishing and logging) fell 0.8 percent. Within durables, declines registered by primary metals, by machinery, and by aerospace and miscellaneous transportation equipment were offset by gains elsewhere. All of the major categories within nondurables posted increases; the largest gains, of about 1 1/2 percent, were recorded by printing and support and by petroleum and coal products.

The index for mining moved up 0.4 percent in September. Gains for oil and gas well drilling and servicing, for coal mining, and for nonmetallic mineral mining and quarrying outweighed a drop in crude oil extraction. The output of mining increased at an annual rate of 3.7 percent in the third quarter following six consecutive quarterly decreases.

Capacity utilization for manufacturing increased 0.1 percentage point in September to 74.9 percent, a rate that is 3.6 percentage points below its long-run average. The operating rate for nondurables advanced 0.3 percentage point to 74.7 percent, while the rates for durables and other manufacturing (publishing and logging) fell to 75.8 percent and 62.2 percent, respectively. The operating rate for mining moved up 0.5 percentage point to 75.5 percent, and the rate for utilities fell 0.9 percentage point to 79.1 percent.

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:

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: October 17, 2016