Industrial production advanced 0.4 percent in August after having been unchanged in July; the gains in August were broadly based. Following a decrease in July of 0.4 percent, which was steeper than previously reported, manufacturing production rose 0.7 percent in August. The output of mines moved up 0.3 percent, its fifth consecutive monthly increase, and the production of utilities fell 1.5 percent, its fifth consecutive monthly decrease. At 99.4 percent of its 2007 average, total industrial production in August was 2.7 percent above its year-earlier level. Capacity utilization for the industrial sector increased 0.2 percentage point in August to 77.8 percent, a rate 0.6 percentage point above its level of a year earlier and 2.4 percentage points below its long-run (1972-2012) average.
The production of consumer goods increased 0.3 percent in August after having decreased 0.5 percent in July; in August, the index stood 2.3 percent above its year-earlier level. As a result of a rebound in automotive products, the production of durable consumer goods rose 2.5 percent to reverse a similarly sized decline in July. The indexes for appliances, furniture, and carpeting and for home electronics also posted gains in August, while the output of miscellaneous goods was unchanged for a second month in a row. The index for consumer nondurables declined 0.3 percent in August, its fifth consecutive month without an increase. The output of non-energy nondurables was unchanged; gains for foods and tobacco and for clothing offset losses for chemical products and for paper products. After having moved up 1.7 percent in July, the output of consumer energy products moved down 1.5 percent in August, with decreases for both fuels and utilities.
After a decrease of 0.9 percent in July, the index for business equipment reversed that loss with an increase of 0.9 percent in August; production was 2.5 percent above its level of a year earlier. The index for transit equipment moved up 3.6 percent, the production of information processing equipment rose 1.2 percent, and the index for industrial and other equipment edged down 0.2 percent.
The output of defense and space equipment rose 1.0 percent in August following a decline of 0.1 percent in July. The index for August stood 0.8 percent above its year-earlier level.
In August, the output of construction supplies advanced 0.3 percent, its third consecutive monthly increase, and the index was 5.3 percent above its level of a year earlier. The production of business supplies was unchanged in August and little changed from its year-earlier level.
The production of materials to be processed further in the industrial sector increased 0.4 percent in August and was 3.4 percent above its year-earlier level. The output of durable materials rose 1.0 percent in August. The production of consumer parts advanced 2.5 percent after two consecutive monthly declines, and the output of equipment parts rose 1.7 percent. The production of nondurable materials moved up 0.7 percent; textile, paper, and chemical materials each registered gains of 0.6 percent or more. The output of energy materials decreased 0.3 percent; the index for this market group was 4.4 percent above its level of a year earlier.
Industry Groups
Manufacturing output rose 0.7 percent in August after having decreased 0.4 percent in July. The index in August was 2.6 percent above its year-earlier level. The factory operating rate increased 0.4 percentage point to 76.1 percent, a rate 2.6 percentage points below its long-run average.
The output of durable goods jumped 1.2 percent in August after having declined 0.6 percent in July. In August, the production of motor vehicles and parts rebounded 5.2 percent after having fallen a downwardly revised 4.5 percent in July. In August, the indexes for wood products; computer and electronic products; electrical equipment, appliances, and components; aerospace and miscellaneous transportation equipment; and furniture and related products all posted increases in the range from 1.0 percent to 1.7 percent. Nonmetallic mineral products, fabricated metal products, and machinery each recorded smaller gains. The production of primary metals decreased 0.3 percent after a large increase in July, and the output of miscellaneous manufacturing moved down 0.8 percent in August, its second consecutive monthly decline. Capacity utilization for durable goods manufacturing increased 0.7 percentage point to 76.2 percent, a rate 0.8 percentage point below its long-run average.
The production of nondurable goods edged up 0.1 percent in August and was 1.5 percent above its level of a year earlier. Among the major components of nondurables, the indexes for apparel and leather and for paper both advanced by more than 1 percent, while smaller gains were recorded for food, beverage, and tobacco products; textile and product mills; and printing and support. Petroleum and coal products, chemicals, and plastics and rubber products all posted declines. The operating rate for nondurables edged up 0.1 percentage point to 77.4 percent, a rate 3.3 percentage points below its long-run average.
Production for non-NAICS manufacturing industries (publishing and logging) moved down 0.2 percent in August. The index was 3.4 percent below its year-earlier level.
Mining output increased 0.3 percent in August and stood 7.5 percent above its year-earlier level. The operating rate for mines edged down 0.1 percentage point to 90.0 percent, a rate 2.7 percentage points above its long-run average. The production of electric and gas utilities fell 1.5 percent, and the operating rate for the sector declined 1.1 percentage points to 74.7 percent, a rate 11.5 percentage points below its long-run average.
Capacity utilization rates in August for industries grouped by stage of process were as follows: At the crude stage, utilization was unchanged at 87.8 percent, a rate 1.5 percentage points above its long-run average; at the primary and semifinished stages, utilization increased 0.1 percentage point to 75.7 percent, a rate 5.3 percentage points below its long-run average; and at the finished stage, utilization moved up 0.4 percentage point to 75.8 percent, a rate 1.3 percentage points lower than its long-run average.
Rebasing of Gross Value of Products Series
With the October 17, 2013, release of the G.17, the comparison base year for the data in Table 9, Gross Value of Final Products and Nonindustrial Supplies, and in Table 10, Gross-Value-Weighted Industrial Production: Stage-of-Process Groups, will be advanced to 2009 to conform with the comparison base year of the national income and product accounts issued by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
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.
G.17 Release Tables:
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