Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization - G.17

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Release Date: August 15, 2018

Industrial production edged up 0.1 percent in July after rising at an average pace of 0.5 percent over the previous five months. Manufacturing production increased 0.3 percent, the output of utilities moved down 0.5 percent, and, after posting five consecutive months of growth, the index for mining declined 0.3 percent. At 108.0 percent of its 2012 average, total industrial production was 4.2 percent higher in July than it was a year earlier. Capacity utilization for the industrial sector was unchanged in July at 78.1 percent, a rate that is 1.7 percentage points below its long-run (1972–2017) average.

Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization: Summary
Seasonally adjusted
Industrial production 2012=100 Percent change
2018 2018 July '17 to
July '18
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 105.9 106.5 107.7 106.8 107.9 108.0 .5 .5 1.2 -.8 1.0 .1 4.2
Previous estimates 105.9 106.4 107.6 107.1 107.7   .4 .5 1.1 -.5 .6    
       
Major market groups
Final Products 101.8 102.2 103.7 101.5 102.8 102.9 .0 .4 1.6 -2.2 1.3 .2 2.8
Consumer goods 105.3 105.7 107.4 104.8 105.7 105.8 -.2 .4 1.7 -2.5 .9 .0 2.3
Business equipment 98.6 98.9 100.0 98.1 100.3 101.0 .1 .3 1.1 -1.9 2.2 .8 4.1
Nonindustrial supplies 106.7 106.7 107.5 107.2 107.3 107.2 .9 .0 .8 -.2 .0 .0 2.3
Construction 114.8 113.6 114.2 114.6 114.3 114.2 3.2 -1.0 .5 .3 -.3 -.1 3.9
Materials 108.9 109.8 110.9 111.1 112.2 112.3 .7 .8 1.0 .2 1.0 .1 6.0
       
Major industry groups
Manufacturing (see note below) 103.8 103.7 104.4 103.4 104.3 104.6 1.5 -.1 .7 -.9 .8 .3 2.8
Previous estimates 103.7 103.6 104.2 103.1 103.9   1.4 -.1 .5 -1.0 .8    
Mining 117.1 118.6 119.4 120.3 123.7 123.4 2.8 1.3 .7 .8 2.9 -.3 12.9
Utilities 98.4 102.6 108.5 105.7 105.0 104.5 -9.6 4.2 5.8 -2.6 -.7 -.5 2.3
Capacity utilization Percent of capacity Capacity
growth
Average
1972-
2017 		1988-
89
high 		1990-
91
low 		1994-
95
high 		 
2009
low 		 
2017
July 		   
2018 July '17 to
July '18
Feb.[r] Mar.[r] Apr.[r] May[r] June[r] July[p]
       
Total industry 79.8 85.2 78.8 85.0 66.7 76.1 77.2 77.5 78.3 77.5 78.1 78.1 1.6
Previous estimates             77.2 77.5 78.2 77.7 78.0    
       
Manufacturing (see note below) 78.3 85.6 77.3 84.6 63.7 74.6 75.7 75.6 76.0 75.2 75.7 75.9 1.1
Previous estimates             75.7 75.5 75.8 75.0 75.5    
Mining 87.0 86.3 84.3 88.6 78.2 84.8 89.5 90.2 90.4 90.7 92.8 92.0 4.0
Utilities 85.3 92.9 84.4 92.9 78.3 77.1 73.6 76.6 80.9 78.7 78.0 77.5 1.9
       
Stage-of-process groups
Crude 86.0 87.8 84.7 90.0 76.4 84.8 86.9 87.9 88.3 88.9 90.6 90.1 2.9
Primary and semifinished 80.4 86.5 78.1 87.7 63.8 74.7 75.5 76.1 77.3 76.3 76.3 76.3 1.2
Finished 76.9 83.4 77.3 80.7 66.6 74.0 75.2 74.7 75.3 74.0 74.9 75.0 1.2
r Revised. p Preliminary.
Market Groups

The indexes for most of the major market groups were little changed in July. The index for consumer goods was unchanged, with a small gain for durables offset by a small loss for consumer energy products. The index for business equipment rose 0.8 percent, with large gains in transit equipment and information processing equipment. The indexes for construction supplies, business supplies, defense and space equipment, and materials were little changed. Within materials, the output of durables rose modestly, the output of nondurables edged down, and the output of energy materials was flat following four consecutive monthly gains above 1.0 percent.

Industry Groups

Manufacturing output increased 0.3 percent in July and was 2.8 percent higher than its year-earlier level. The index for durables rose 0.4 percent, the index for nondurables moved up 0.2 percent, and the index for other manufacturing (publishing and logging) fell 0.5 percent. Within durables, most major industry groups posted increases; the largest gains, of around 1 percent each, were for motor vehicles and parts and for computer and electronic products. Within nondurables, increases in the indexes for apparel and leather, for petroleum and coal products, for chemicals, and for plastics and rubber products were partly offset by decreases elsewhere.

Mining output declined in July, as a further increase in oil and gas extraction was slightly outweighed by decreases in the indexes for other mining and for mining support activities. Despite the pullback in July, mining output was nearly 13 percent above its year-earlier level. The index for utilities fell 0.5 percent in July for its third consecutive monthly decrease.

Capacity utilization for manufacturing increased 0.2 percentage point in July to 75.9 percent, a rate that is 2.4 percentage points below its long-run average. The operating rates for durables and nondurables moved up 0.2 percentage point and 0.1 percentage point, respectively. The utilization rate for mining fell to 92.0 percent, which is 5.0 percentage points higher than its long-run average. The rate for utilities fell 0.5 percentage point to 77.5 percent, nearly 8 percentage points 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.

Release Dates for 2019

In 2019, the G.17 release on Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization will be published at 9:15 a.m. on January 18, February 15, March 15, April 16, May 15, June 14, July 16, August 15, September 17, October 17, November 15, and December 17.

G.17 Release Tables:

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Last Update: August 15, 2018