Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization - G.17
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Industrial production declined 0.3 percent in January, as unseasonably warm weather held down the output of utilities and as a major manufacturer significantly slowed production of civilian aircraft. The index for manufacturing edged down 0.1 percent in January; excluding the production of aircraft and parts, factory output advanced 0.3 percent. The index for mining rose 1.2 percent. At 109.2 percent of its 2012 average, total industrial production was 0.8 percent lower in January than it was a year earlier. Capacity utilization for the industrial sector fell 0.3 percentage point in January to 76.8 percent, a rate that is 3.0 percentage points below its long-run (1972–2019) average.
Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization: Summary
Industrial production | 2012=100 | Percent change | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2019 | 2020 Jan.[p] |
2019 | 2020 Jan.[p] |
Jan. '19 to Jan. '20 |
|||||||||
Aug.[r] | Sept.[r] | Oct.[r] | Nov.[r] | Dec.[r] | Aug.[r] | Sept.[r] | Oct.[r] | Nov.[r] | Dec.[r] | ||||
Total index | 109.9 | 109.5 | 109.0 | 110.0 | 109.5 | 109.2 | .7 | -.3 | -.4 | .9 | -.4 | -.3 | -.8 |
Previous estimates | 110.0 | 109.4 | 108.9 | 109.8 | 109.4 | .8 | -.5 | -.5 | .8 | -.3 | |||
Major market groups | |||||||||||||
Final Products | 103.4 | 102.6 | 102.3 | 104.3 | 103.1 | 102.0 | .1 | -.8 | -.3 | 1.9 | -1.1 | -1.0 | -1.6 |
Consumer goods | 105.5 | 104.7 | 104.6 | 106.7 | 105.1 | 104.6 | -.1 | -.7 | -.1 | 2.0 | -1.5 | -.5 | -.8 |
Business equipment | 101.7 | 100.5 | 99.7 | 101.8 | 101.1 | 98.5 | .8 | -1.2 | -.8 | 2.1 | -.7 | -2.6 | -4.5 |
Nonindustrial supplies | 108.5 | 108.6 | 108.3 | 108.2 | 108.3 | 109.0 | .6 | .0 | -.3 | -.1 | .1 | .6 | -.5 |
Construction | 117.0 | 117.1 | 116.4 | 116.1 | 117.7 | 118.9 | .8 | .1 | -.6 | -.2 | 1.4 | 1.0 | .9 |
Materials | 115.6 | 115.5 | 114.8 | 115.2 | 115.3 | 115.3 | 1.3 | -.1 | -.6 | .3 | .1 | .0 | -.3 |
Major industry groups | |||||||||||||
Manufacturing (see note below) | 105.2 | 104.5 | 103.9 | 104.9 | 105.0 | 104.9 | .6 | -.6 | -.6 | 1.0 | .1 | -.1 | -.8 |
Previous estimates | 105.3 | 104.5 | 103.8 | 104.8 | 105.0 | .7 | -.8 | -.7 | 1.0 | .2 | |||
Mining | 133.7 | 133.6 | 133.3 | 132.6 | 134.6 | 136.2 | 2.3 | -.1 | -.3 | -.5 | 1.5 | 1.2 | 3.1 |
Utilities | 104.6 | 106.1 | 106.5 | 108.7 | 102.0 | 98.0 | -.6 | 1.4 | .4 | 2.1 | -6.2 | -4.0 | -6.2 |
Market Groups
The major market groups posted mixed results in January. The output of business equipment declined 2.6 percent as a result of the slowdown in the production of aircraft. The step-down in the index for utilities contributed to decreases for consumer energy products and energy materials. The index for consumer durables rose, supported by an increase of 2.8 percent in the output of automotive products.
Industry Groups
Manufacturing output decreased 0.1 percent in January to a level 0.8 percent below its year-earlier reading. The production of durable goods moved down 0.5 percent in January, as drops for aerospace and miscellaneous transportation equipment and for machinery were partially offset by a gain for motor vehicles and parts. The output of nondurable manufacturing rose 0.3 percent, and almost all of its component categories posted gains. The indexes for petroleum and coal products and for plastics and rubber products recorded increases of more than 1 percent, whereas only the index for apparel and leather recorded a decrease of more than 1 percent.
Mining output advanced 1.2 percent in January and stood 3.1 percent above its level of a year earlier. The output of utilities fell 4.0 percent in January, with electric and natural gas utilities posting declines of 3.2 percent and 7.7 percent, respectively.
Capacity utilization for manufacturing edged down 0.1 percentage point in January to 75.1 percent, 3.1 percentage points below its long-run average. The utilization rate for mining rose to 90.7 percent and remained well above its long-run average of 87.2 percent. The operating rate for utilities fell to 70.6 percent, a rate that is about 15 percentage points below its long-run average.
Note: Preliminary Estimates of Industrial Capacity
The data in this release include preliminary estimates of industrial capacity for 2020 (table 8). Measured from fourth quarter to fourth quarter, total industrial capacity is projected to rise 1.3 percent this year after increasing 2.1 percent in 2019. Manufacturing capacity is expected to advance 0.8 percent in 2020 after increasing 1.4 percent in 2019. Capacity in the mining sector is estimated to rise 2.9 percent in 2020 after gaining 5.8 percent in 2019. Capacity at electric and natural gas utilities is projected to increase 3.3 percent in 2020 after expanding 2.5 percent in 2019.
Revision of Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization
The Federal Reserve Board plans to issue its annual revision to the indexes of industrial production (IP) and the related measures of capacity utilization in the summer of 2020. New annual benchmark data for manufacturing for 2017 and 2018 will be incorporated, as well as other annual data, including information on the mining of metallic and nonmetallic minerals (except fuels). The weights for market-group splits of the industry-level indexes will be updated with information from the 2012 benchmark input-output accounts from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. 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 for manufacturing through the fourth quarter of 2019 from the 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.
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 of Selected 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
- Table 15: Industrial Production: Reliability Estimates