Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization - G.17

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Release Date: June 17, 2022
Revision of Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization Notice Below

Total industrial production moved up 0.2 percent in May. Output has increased in every month of the year so far, with an average monthly gain of nearly 0.8 percent. In May, manufacturing output declined 0.1 percent after three months when growth averaged nearly 1 percent; the indexes for utilities and mining rose 1.0 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively, in May. At 105.7 percent of its 2017 average, total industrial production in May was 5.8 percent above its year-earlier level. Capacity utilization edged up to 79.0 percent, 0.5 percentage point below its long-run (1972–2021) average.

Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization: Summary
Seasonally adjusted
Industrial production 2017=100 Percent change
2021
Dec.[r] 		2022 2021
Dec.[r] 		2022 May '21 to
May '22
Jan.[r] Feb.[r] Mar.[r] Apr.[r] May[p] Jan.[r] Feb.[r] Mar.[r] Apr.[r] May[p]
       
Total index 101.7 102.5 103.6 104.1 105.5 105.7 -.2 .8 1.0 .5 1.4 .2 5.8
Previous estimates 101.7 102.6 103.6 104.5 105.6   -.3 .8 1.0 .9 1.1    
       
Major market groups
Final Products 101.4 102.3 103.4 103.8 105.1 105.4 -.3 .9 1.1 .4 1.3 .3 5.7
Consumer goods 100.4 101.7 102.3 102.3 103.5 103.6 -.4 1.3 .6 .0 1.2 .1 3.6
Business equipment 96.0 95.6 97.3 98.7 99.9 100.1 .0 -.5 1.8 1.4 1.2 .3 6.8
Nonindustrial supplies 99.6 100.2 101.6 101.5 102.5 102.9 -.5 .6 1.4 -.1 1.0 .3 6.4
Construction 104.8 103.8 106.1 105.4 106.0 106.2 .4 -1.0 2.3 -.7 .6 .2 7.1
Materials 102.7 103.5 104.3 105.1 106.7 106.9 -.1 .8 .8 .8 1.5 .2 5.8
       
Major industry groups
Manufacturing (see note below) 100.4 100.3 101.6 102.4 103.2 103.1 .0 -.1 1.3 .8 .8 -.1 4.8
Previous estimates 100.4 100.3 101.6 102.5 103.2   -.1 -.1 1.3 .8 .8    
Mining 109.4 109.8 110.0 113.5 114.8 116.3 .5 .3 .2 3.2 1.1 1.3 9.0
Utilities 99.6 107.0 107.0 102.0 107.6 108.7 -2.6 7.4 .0 -4.7 5.5 1.0 8.4

Capacity utilization Percent of capacity Capacity
growth
Average
1972-
2021 		1988-
89
high 		1990-
91
low 		1994-
95
high 		 
2009
low 		 
2021
May 		   
2021
Dec.[r] 		2022 May '21 to
May '22
Jan.[r] Feb.[r] Mar.[r] Apr.[r] May[p]
       
Total industry 79.5 85.2 78.8 85.1 66.6 75.3 76.4 76.9 77.6 77.9 78.9 79.0 .8
Previous estimates             76.4 76.9 77.6 78.2 79.0    
       
Manufacturing (see note below) 78.1 85.6 77.3 84.7 63.5 75.7 77.1 77.0 78.0 78.6 79.2 79.1 .3
Previous estimates             77.1 77.0 78.0 78.6 79.2    
Mining 85.9 86.0 83.8 88.3 78.3 75.5 77.7 77.7 77.7 80.0 80.7 81.5 1.0
Utilities 84.8 93.1 84.6 93.2 78.0 72.3 70.7 75.8 75.7 72.1 75.9 76.4 2.4
       
Stage-of-process groups
Crude 85.2 87.7 84.6 89.7 76.5 77.4 77.8 77.9 78.3 80.3 80.9 81.4 .9
Primary and semifinished 80.0 86.5 78.1 87.9 63.5 74.3 75.3 76.4 77.5 76.8 78.2 78.3 .8
Finished 76.8 83.4 77.5 80.7 66.5 75.6 77.3 77.4 77.7 78.5 79.3 79.2 .4
[r] Revised. [p] Preliminary.
Market Groups

Gains for most major market groups were small in May: Consumer goods, business equipment, construction supplies, business supplies, and materials all posted increases of less than 1/2 percent. Within consumer goods, gains were recorded by durables and energy products, while a loss was registered by non-energy nondurables. Within business equipment, advances of about 1 percent for transit equipment and for information processing equipment were partly offset by a decline of nearly 1/2 percent for industrial and other equipment. Within materials, an increase of 1.4 percent in energy materials outweighed a decrease of 0.6 percent in non-energy materials.

Industry Groups

Manufacturing output slipped 0.1 percent in May; even so, the index has advanced 4.8 percent over the past 12 months. In May, the index for nondurable manufacturing moved up 0.1 percent, while the indexes for durable manufacturing and for other manufacturing (publishing and logging) each moved down 0.2 percent. Among durables, the largest drops were in wood products and machinery, with declines of 2.6 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively. Among nondurables, an increase of 2.5 percent in petroleum and coal products outweighed decreases of less than 1 percent in food, beverage, and tobacco products; paper; and printing and support.

May was the third consecutive month with gains of more than 1.0 percent in mining; over that period, the index for oil and gas extraction has averaged increases of 2.0 percent per month. Mining output has advanced 9.0 percent over the past 12 months. Unseasonably warm weather in May boosted the demand for air conditioning and lowered the demand for heating; the output of electric utilities gained 1.9 percent, while the output of natural gas utilities stepped back 4.5 percent.

Capacity utilization for manufacturing edged down in May to 79.1 percent, 1.0 percentage point above its long-run average. The operating rate for mining was 81.5 percent (4.4 percentage points below its long-run average), while the operating rate for utilities was 76.4 percent (8.4 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 at noon (EDT) on June 28, 2022. New annual benchmark data for manufacturing for 2020 will be incorporated, as well as other annual data, including information on the mining of metallic and nonmetallic minerals (except fuels). 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 2021 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: June 17, 2022