Industrial Production At a Glance
- Industrial Production Index: 110.9
- (Base year 2002, Seasonally Adjusted)
- Monthly Change: Down 0.2%
- Manufacturing Change: Unchanged
- Mining Change: Up 0.1%
- Utilities Change: Down 2%
- Capacity Utilization: 79.4%
- Long Run Average Capacity Utilization: 81%
Technorati Tags: industrial, production, capacity, utilization, manufacturing, mining, utilities
Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization
Industrial production declined 0.2 percent in May after having fallen 0.7 percent in April.
Manufacturing output was unchanged in May, the output of utilities shrank 1.8 percent, and the output at
mines rose 0.1 percent. Factory output was boosted by a small pickup in the index for motor vehicles and
parts. The end in late May of the strike at a parts producer had little effect on vehicle output for the
month; the output of motor vehicles and parts remained about 10 percent below its February level.
Excluding motor vehicles and parts, manufacturing production edged down 0.1 percent after having decreased
0.5 percent in April. At 110.9 percent of its 2002 average, overall industrial production was 0.1 percent
below its year-earlier level. The rate of capacity utilization for total industry declined 0.2 percentage
point, to 79.4 percent, a level 1.6 percentage points below its average for 1972-2007.
Market Groups
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The production of consumer goods decreased 0.2 percent in May. The output of consumer durables rose
0.6 percent but was more than offset by a decline of 1.3 percent in consumer energy products; the
production of consumer non-energy nondurables was unchanged. The increase for durable consumer goods
reflected gains in both automotive products and home electronics. The indexes for appliances, furniture,
and carpeting and for miscellaneous goods both fell. Among consumer non-energy nondurables, increased
output of chemical products and miscellaneous nondurables offset declines elsewhere.
The output of business equipment was unchanged in May. The index for transit equipment decreased 0.4
percent. Higher production of autos and light trucks was outweighed by lower production of medium and
heavy trucks and truck trailers. Although the index for information processing equipment moved up further
in May, the increase for this category was the smallest since January 2007. The output of industrial and
other equipment was unchanged; decreases among many of the components in this category were offset by
production increases for farm and construction machinery, which moved up slightly after having dropped
substantially in April.
The production of defense and space equipment fell 0.5 percent in May and has fallen more than 1
percent so far this year. Among nonindustrial supplies, the output of business supplies decreased 0.3
percent, and the output of construction supplies edged down 0.1 percent and has fallen for 10 consecutive
months.
Materials output declined 0.2 percent; durable and energy materials both posted losses, while the
index for nondurable materials registered a modest gain. Within durables, the output of consumer parts
fell 0.8 percent after having fallen about 2 percent in each of the previous two months; reductions in the
output of motor vehicle parts have contributed in large measure to the weakness in this index in recent
months. The production of equipment parts edged up, and the production of other durable materials moved
down. Among nondurable materials, the indexes for both chemical and textile materials rose, while the
index for paper materials decreased. The production of energy materials declined 0.7 percent.
Industry Groups
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Manufacturing output was unchanged in May, and the factory operating rate moved down 0.2 percentage
point, to 77.5 percent, a level 2.2 percentage points below its 1972-2007 average. The production indexes
for both durable and nondurable manufacturing industries were also unchanged. In addition to the motor
vehicles and parts industry, other durable manufacturing industries that registered increases included
fabricated metal products; computer and electronic products; electrical equipment, appliances, and
components; and miscellaneous manufacturing. Decreases were recorded in the indexes for wood products,
nonmetallic mineral products, machinery, aerospace and miscellaneous transportation equipment, and
furniture; for furniture, it was the ninth consecutive monthly decrease. Among nondurable manufacturing
industries, reductions occurred in the indexes for food, apparel and leather, paper, and petroleum and coal
products. The production declines in these industries were offset by higher output for textile and product
mills, chemicals, and plastics and rubber products. The production of non-NAICS manufacturing (logging
and publishing) fell for a second consecutive month and has fallen 4.7 percent over the past 12 months.
The output of utilities decreased 1.8 percent, and the operating rate in this industry moved down to
83.7 percent, a level 3.1 percentage points below its 1972-2007 average. Mining production increased 0.1
percent; higher output of coal and increased drilling activity boosted this index. The capacity
utilization rate for mining was unchanged at 89.6 percent, a rate 2.1 percentage points above its long-run
average.
Capacity utilization at industries grouped by stage of process changed as follows: For the crude
stage, utilization moved up 0.2 percentage point, to 89.0 percent, a rate 2.4 percentage points above its
1972-2007 average; for the primary and semifinished stages, utilization moved down 0.5 percentage point, to
79.3 percent, a rate 2.9 percentage points below its long-run average; and for the finished stage,
utilization decreased 0.1 percentage point, to 75.9 percent, a rate 1.8 percentage points below its
long-run average.
Notice
Revision of Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization
The Federal Reserve Board issued an annual revision to the indexes of industrial production (IP) and the
related measures of capacity and capacity utilization on March 28, 2008. The revised IP indexes
incorporated data from the 2006 Annual Survey of Manufactures and from selected editions of the 2006
Current Industrial Reports, all from the U.S. Census Bureau. Annual data from the U.S. Geological Survey
regarding metallic and nonmetallic minerals (except fuels) for 2006 were also incorporated. The update
included revisions to the monthly indicator (either product data or input data) and to seasonal factors for
each industry as well as changes in the estimation methods for some series. Any changes to methods for
estimating the output of an industry affected the indexes from 1972 to the present.
Monthly releases now include new or revised indexes for a six-month reporting window, which encompasses
one month of new data and revisions to the previous five months of data. The new longer reporting window
allows the incorporation of additional lagging data before an annual revision. Had a six-month window been
used over the past year, an additional 3 percent to 4 percent of IP would have reflected source data. For
a few indexes, the longer reporting window will cause the latest month of data shown to be as many as five
months earlier than the latest value for aggregate IP; data for detailed production indexes are not shown
in the supplement to the G.17 release until either the underlying data are available or the reporting
window is closed.
Capacity and capacity utilization have been revised to reflect the revised production indexes and to
incorporate data from the Census Bureau’s 2006 Survey of Plant Capacity, which covers manufacturing, along
with new data on capacity from the U.S. Geological Survey, the Department of Energy, and other
organizations.
Industrial Production G.17 - May 2008 [PDF]
Industrial Production G.17 - May 2008 [Text]
Source: Federal Reserve Board
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