Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization - G.17

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Release Date: December 14, 2018
Revision of Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization Notice Below

Industrial production rose 0.6 percent in November after moving down 0.2 percent in October; the index for October was previously reported to have edged up 0.1 percent. In November, manufacturing production was unchanged, the output of mining increased 1.7 percent, and the index for utilities gained 3.3 percent. At 109.4 percent of its 2012 average, total industrial production was 3.9 percent higher in November than it was a year earlier. Capacity utilization for the industrial sector rose 0.4 percentage point in November to 78.5 percent, a rate that is 1.3 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 Nov. '17 to
Nov. '18
June[r] July[r] Aug.[r] Sept.[r] Oct.[r] Nov.[p] June[r] July[r] Aug.[r] Sept.[r] Oct.[r] Nov.[p]
       
Total index 107.4 107.9 108.8 108.9 108.7 109.4 .6 .4 .8 .1 -.2 .6 3.9
Previous estimates 107.5 107.9 108.8 109.0 109.1   .6 .4 .8 .2 .1    
       
Major market groups
Final Products 102.2 102.4 103.1 103.5 103.7 103.7 1.0 .2 .7 .4 .2 .0 2.5
Consumer goods 105.3 105.5 105.9 106.1 106.1 106.2 .6 .2 .4 .2 .0 .1 1.5
Business equipment 99.5 99.7 101.3 102.4 103.0 102.9 2.1 .2 1.6 1.1 .6 -.2 4.1
Nonindustrial supplies 107.3 107.1 107.1 106.7 106.5 106.7 .0 -.2 .0 -.3 -.2 .2 .6
Construction 114.2 114.2 114.6 113.9 113.5 113.3 -.4 .0 .4 -.6 -.3 -.2 1.2
Materials 111.7 112.7 114.0 114.0 113.5 114.9 .5 .8 1.2 .0 -.4 1.2 6.1
       
Major industry groups
Manufacturing (see note below) 104.0 104.3 104.8 105.0 104.9 104.9 .7 .3 .5 .2 -.1 .0 2.0
Previous estimates 104.0 104.4 104.8 105.1 105.4   .7 .3 .4 .3 .3    
Mining 122.8 123.9 126.9 127.6 126.8 128.9 1.8 .9 2.4 .6 -.7 1.7 13.2
Utilities 104.1 104.2 105.4 104.1 104.4 107.8 -1.6 .2 1.1 -1.2 .2 3.3 4.3
Capacity utilization Percent of capacity Capacity
growth
Average
1972-
2017 		1988-
89
high 		1990-
91
low 		1994-
95
high 		 
2009
low 		 
2017
Nov. 		   
2018 Nov. '17 to
Nov. '18
June[r] July[r] Aug.[r] Sept.[r] Oct.[r] Nov.[p]
       
Total industry 79.8 85.2 78.8 85.0 66.7 77.1 77.8 78.0 78.5 78.4 78.1 78.5 2.0
Previous estimates             77.8 78.0 78.5 78.5 78.4    
       
Manufacturing (see note below) 78.3 85.6 77.3 84.6 63.7 75.3 75.5 75.7 76.0 76.0 75.8 75.7 1.3
Previous estimates             75.6 75.7 75.9 76.1 76.2    
Mining 87.0 86.3 84.3 88.6 78.2 87.9 92.0 92.4 94.1 94.2 93.1 94.1 5.7
Utilities 85.3 92.9 84.4 92.9 78.3 77.6 77.3 77.3 78.0 76.9 77.0 79.4 2.0
       
Stage-of-process groups
Crude 86.0 87.8 84.7 90.0 76.4 86.7 90.1 90.6 92.0 92.0 91.2 92.3 4.1
Primary and semifinished 80.4 86.5 78.1 87.7 63.8 75.9 76.1 75.9 76.3 75.9 75.7 76.3 1.4
Finished 76.9 83.4 77.3 80.7 66.6 74.3 74.6 75.0 75.3 75.6 75.5 75.2 1.3
r Revised. p Preliminary.
Market Groups

The major market groups posted mixed results in November. The index for consumer goods edged up, as a rise of nearly 2 percent for consumer energy products was mostly offset by a loss of 1/2 percent for non-energy nondurables. The index for business equipment moved down about 1/4 percent, and the index for defense and space equipment was unchanged.

Among nonindustrial supplies, the output of construction supplies declined nearly 1/4 percent in November, while the index for business supplies rose 1/2 percent. The output of industrial materials moved up more than 1 percent, with gains in durables, in nondurables, and in energy materials.

Industry Groups

Manufacturing output was unchanged in November, as an increase of 0.2 percent for durable manufacturing was offset by decreases of 0.2 percent and 0.9 percent for nondurable manufacturing and other manufacturing (publishing and logging), respectively. Within durable manufacturing, primary metals posted a gain of nearly 2 1/2 percent; no other major industry group recorded a gain of more than 1/2 percent and several recorded losses. Among nondurables, most major categories posted declines.

Mining output advanced 1.7 percent in November, with gains in oil and gas extraction, coal mining, and support activities for mining; the index for mining was 13.2 percent above its level of a year earlier. The output of utilities rose 3.3 percent in November, with increases for both electric and gas utilities; natural gas distribution rose sharply in both October and November, as unseasonably cold weather supported demand for heating.

Capacity utilization for manufacturing edged down in November to 75.7 percent, about 2 1/2 percentage points below its long-run average, as a slight rise for durables was outweighed by declines for nondurables and other manufacturing (publishing and logging). The utilization rate for mining increased to 94.1 percent and remained well above its long-run average of 87.0 percent. The operating rate for utilities moved up to 79.4 percent, a rate that is about 6 percentage points below its long-run average.

Revision of Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization

The Federal Reserve Board plans to issue its annual revision to the index of industrial production (IP) and the related measures of capacity utilization around the end of the first quarter of 2019. The Economic Census for 2017 will not be available from the U.S. Census Bureau by early 2019, so no new annual benchmark data will be included for manufacturing. Other annual data, including information on the mining of metallic and nonmetallic minerals (except fuels), will be incorporated. The updated IP indexes will include revisions to the monthly indicator (either product data or input data) and to seasonal factors for each industry. In addition, the estimation methods for some series may be changed. Any modifications to the methods for estimating the output of an industry will affect the index from 1972 to the present.

Capacity and capacity utilization will be revised to incorporate data through the fourth quarter of 2018 from the U.S. Census Bureau's Quarterly Survey of Plant Capacity Utilization 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.

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Last Update: December 14, 2018