Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization - G.17
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Industrial production rose 0.6 percent in February after falling 0.5 percent in January. Manufacturing output edged up 0.1 percent in February; excluding a large gain for motor vehicles and parts and a large drop for civilian aircraft, factory output was unchanged. The index for mining declined 1.5 percent, but the index for utilities jumped 7.1 percent, as temperatures returned to more typical levels following an unseasonably warm January. At 109.6 percent of its 2012 average, the level of total industrial production in February was unchanged from a year earlier. Capacity utilization for the industrial sector increased 0.4 percentage point in February to 77.0 percent, a rate that is 2.8 percentage points below its long-run (1972–2019) average.
Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization: Summary
Industrial production | 2012=100 | Percent change | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2019 | 2020 | 2019 | 2020 | Feb. '19 to Feb. '20 |
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Sept.[r] | Oct.[r] | Nov.[r] | Dec.[r] | Jan.[r] | Feb.[p] | Sept.[r] | Oct.[r] | Nov.[r] | Dec.[r] | Jan.[r] | Feb.[p] | ||
Total index | 109.5 | 109.0 | 110.0 | 109.6 | 109.0 | 109.6 | -.3 | -.4 | .9 | -.4 | -.5 | .6 | .0 |
Previous estimates | 109.5 | 109.0 | 110.0 | 109.5 | 109.2 | -.3 | -.4 | .9 | -.4 | -.3 | |||
Major market groups | |||||||||||||
Final Products | 102.6 | 102.3 | 104.2 | 103.2 | 101.7 | 102.9 | -.8 | -.3 | 1.9 | -1.0 | -1.5 | 1.2 | -.7 |
Consumer goods | 104.7 | 104.6 | 106.8 | 105.4 | 104.2 | 106.0 | -.7 | -.1 | 2.1 | -1.3 | -1.1 | 1.7 | .2 |
Business equipment | 100.5 | 99.7 | 101.8 | 101.4 | 98.4 | 98.0 | -1.2 | -.8 | 2.1 | -.4 | -3.0 | -.4 | -3.7 |
Nonindustrial supplies | 108.5 | 108.2 | 108.4 | 108.4 | 109.0 | 109.1 | .0 | -.3 | .2 | .0 | .5 | .1 | .6 |
Construction | 117.1 | 116.4 | 116.2 | 117.0 | 118.7 | 118.2 | .1 | -.5 | -.2 | .7 | 1.4 | -.4 | 2.0 |
Materials | 115.5 | 114.9 | 115.3 | 115.2 | 115.2 | 115.4 | -.1 | -.6 | .3 | -.1 | .1 | .2 | .5 |
Major industry groups | |||||||||||||
Manufacturing (see note below) | 104.5 | 103.9 | 104.9 | 105.0 | 104.8 | 104.9 | -.6 | -.6 | .9 | .1 | -.2 | .1 | -.4 |
Previous estimates | 104.5 | 103.9 | 104.9 | 105.0 | 104.9 | -.6 | -.6 | 1.0 | .1 | -.1 | |||
Mining | 133.6 | 133.5 | 132.6 | 133.7 | 135.0 | 133.0 | -.1 | -.1 | -.7 | .8 | 1.0 | -1.5 | 2.1 |
Utilities | 106.1 | 106.5 | 109.7 | 103.4 | 98.4 | 105.4 | 1.4 | .3 | 3.0 | -5.7 | -4.9 | 7.1 | .4 |
Market Groups
The index for consumer goods rose 1.7 percent in February. Automotive products and energy products posted sizable gains, and several other categories also recorded substantial increases. By contrast, the output of business equipment fell back 0.4 percent, held down by a large decline for transit equipment that resulted from a further reduction in the production of civilian aircraft. The index for construction supplies also declined 0.4 percent, but the indexes for defense and space equipment and for business supplies advanced 1.2 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively. The output of materials rose 0.2 percent, as an increase for the energy category more than offset declines for both durable and nondurable materials.
Industry Groups
Manufacturing output edged up 0.1 percent in February, but it was still 0.4 percent below its level of a year earlier. The output of durable goods increased 0.3 percent. Among the components of durables, motor vehicle and parts recorded the largest gain, while aerospace and miscellaneous transportation equipment recorded the largest decline. The output of nondurable manufacturing slipped 0.1 percent as its components posted mixed results. Sizable declines were posted by textile and product mills, by petroleum and coal products, and by chemicals. Sizable gains were posted by food, beverage, and tobacco products; by apparel and leather; and by printing and support. The output of other manufacturing (publishing and logging) declined 1.0 percent and was 9.0 percent below its year-earlier level.
Mining output fell 1.5 percent in February, reflecting broad-based declines among its components; even so, overall mining production was 2.1 percent above its year-earlier level. The output of utilities jumped 7.1 percent in February, with electric and natural gas utilities each posting large gains.
Capacity utilization for manufacturing in February was 75.0 percent, unchanged from its rate in January but 3.2 percentage points below its long-run average. The utilization rate for mining fell to 88.4 percent, but it was 1.2 percentage points above its long-run average. The operating rate for utilities advanced to 75.8 percent, a rate that is 9.4 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 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