Industrial production rose 0.7 percent in September after an upwardly revised gain of 1.2 percent in August. For the third quarter as a whole, output advanced at an annual rate of 5.2 percent, the first quarterly gain since the first quarter of 2008 and the largest gain since the first quarter of 2005. Production in manufacturing increased 0.9 percent in September, and the index excluding motor vehicles and parts rose 0.5 percent. Mining output strengthened 0.7 percent, while the output of utilities fell 0.7 percent. At 98.5 percent of its 2002 average, total industrial production was 6.1 percent below its level of a year earlier. In September, the capacity utilization rate for total industry increased to 70.5 percent, a level 10.4 percentage points below its average for 1972 through 2008.
Market Groups
The production of consumer goods advanced 1.1 percent in September, and the index rose at an annual rate of 5.5 percent for the third quarter. The gain in September was led by an increase of 3.5 percent in durables. The output of automotive products moved up 7.4 percent after having posted monthly gains in July and August that averaged about 11 percent. Production in the other major categories of durables was mixed in September: The index for home electronics fell 1.3 percent; the index for appliances, furniture, and carpeting moved up 0.4 percent; and the index for miscellaneous goods rose 0.3 percent. The production of nondurable consumer goods increased 0.5 percent, with gains in the output of most major categories. The index for non-energy nondurables advanced 0.3 percent. The production indexes for foods and tobacco, for clothing, and for chemical products moved higher, while the index for paper products fell back 1.3 percent. The output of consumer energy goods climbed 1.2 percent largely because of increases in petroleum refining.
The index for business equipment edged up 0.1 percent in September after having advanced about 1 percent per month in July and August; for the third quarter as a whole, the index rose at an annual rate of 3.5 percent. Within business equipment, the production of transit equipment strengthened 2.4 percent in September, supported primarily by the gain in motor vehicle assemblies. The output of information processing equipment edged up 0.2 percent. The output of industrial and other equipment fell 0.6 percent; decreases in several categories, including general purpose machinery, farm machinery, and office furniture, more than offset strength in other categories such as semiconductor machinery. The index for defense and space equipment rose 1.1 percent and increased at an annual rate of nearly 15 percent in the third quarter.
The output of construction supplies decreased 0.4 percent in September after having advanced a similar amount in August. The index for business supplies also decreased 0.4 percent in September, as both general business supplies and commercial energy products posted declines.
The production of materials increased 0.8 percent in September, with widespread gains among its components, and advanced at an annual rate of 7.0 percent in the third quarter. The output of durables moved up 1.3 percent in September. Consumer parts production expanded 3.3 percent; gains in the output of motor vehicle parts contributed significantly to the increase. The index for equipment parts rose 1.2 percent, while the index for other durable materials moved up 0.8 percent. The output of nondurable materials gained 0.7 percent, with the largest contribution coming from higher production of chemical materials. Energy materials edged up 0.2 percent; increases in petroleum refining and in oil and gas support activities more than offset lower output of electricity.
Industry Groups
Manufacturing production expanded 0.9 percent in September following an upwardly revised gain of 1.2 percent in August. The factory operating rate climbed to 67.5 percent but remained 12.1 percentage points below its 1972-2008 average. For the third quarter, manufacturing output advanced at an annual rate of 7.1 percent.
The index for durable goods increased 1.2 percent in September, the third consecutive gain of at least 1.0 percent. In addition to the continued rebound in motor vehicles and parts, the index for primary metals has also advanced strongly in recent months. Led by a surge in steel production, primary metals jumped at an annual rate of 87 percent in the third quarter; nevertheless, the index in September was 28 percent below its year-earlier level. Elsewhere in durables, the output of computer and electronic products rose 0.5 percent in September, and the indexes for wood products; fabricated metal products; and electrical equipment, appliances, and components edged up, The output of nonmetallic mineral products fell 0.7 percent, and the indexes for machinery and for furniture and related products each declined about 1 percent.
The production of nondurables moved up 0.8 percent, with gains widespread across its components. The indexes for textile and product mills, for apparel and leather, and for petroleum and coal products all increased at least 1 percent. In addition, the output of chemicals gained 0.8 percent, and the output of food, beverage, and tobacco products increased 0.5 percent. However, the indexes for paper, for printing and related support activities, and for plastics and rubber products all declined modestly.
The index for other manufacturing (non-NAICS), which consists of publishing and logging, fell 1.3 percent in September.
The index for utilities slipped 0.7 percent, mainly because of lower electricity output. The operating rate for utilities dropped 0.6 percentage point, to 78.1 percent. Mining production expanded 0.7 percent, and its utilization rate rose to 83.6 percent, a rate 4.0 percentage points below its 1972-2008 average.
Capacity utilization rates at industries grouped by stage of process were as follows: For the crude stage, utilization rose 1.1 percentage points, to 82.5 percent, a rate about 4 percentage points below its 1972-2008 average; for the primary and semifinished stages, utilization edged up 0.3 percentage point, to 67.3 percent, a rate 14.7 percentage points below its long-run average; and for the finished stage, utilization increased 0.7 percentage point, to 69.3 percent, a rate 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 index of industrial production (IP) and the related measures of capacity utilization in late March 2010. The revised IP indexes will incorporate detailed data from the 2007 Economic Census and the 2008 Annual Survey of Manufactures (ASM), both conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau; the date for the issuance of the revision will depend on when the 2008 ASM becomes available. Data from selected editions of the Census Bureau's 2008 Current Industrial Reports and annual data from the U.S. Geological Survey regarding metallic and nonmetallic minerals (except fuels) for 2008 will also be incorporated. The update will include 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 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 from the Census Bureau's Quarterly 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.
Once the revision is published, it will be available on the Board's website at www.federalreserve.gov/releases/G17. The revised data will also be available through the website of the Department of Commerce. Further information on the revision can be obtained from the Board's Industrial Output Section (telephone number 202-452-3197).
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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