Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization for November 1998.Released for publication December December: see month. 16 Industrial production declined 0.3 percent in November November: see month. after an upwardly revised increase of 0.2 percent in October October: see month. . The decline in the index resulted from a fall of 3.4 percent in the output of utilities and of 1.2 percent in the output of mines. Manufacturing output was unchanged after having risen 0.6 percent in October. At 131.8 percent of its 1992 average, industrial production in November was 1.5 percent higher than it was in November 1997. Capacity utilization Capacity Utilization measures the rate at which a firm makes use of their capital productive capacities, such as factories and machinery. Capacity Utilization generally rises when the economy is healthy and falls when demand softens. fell 0.6 percentage point, to 80.6 percent, a level 1 1/2 percentage points below its 1967-97 average. MARKET GROUPS The output of consumer goods consumer goods Any tangible commodity purchased by households to satisfy their wants and needs. Consumer goods may be durable or nondurable. Durable goods (e.g., autos, furniture, and appliances) have a significant life span, often defined as three years or more, and edged up 0.1 percent after an upwardly revised increase of 0.4 percent in October. Among consumer durables Consumer durables Consumer products that are expected to last three years or more, such as an automobile or a home appliance. consumer durables See durable goods. , production of automotive products decreased, but remained near the high level in October; the decline was offset, however, by a 0.7 percent increase in the production of other consumer durables, mainly computers and appliances. The output of nondurable non·du·ra·ble adj. Not enduring; being in a state of constant consumption: nondurable items such as paper products. n. A consumable item: nondurables such as food. consumer goods other than energy products, which rose 0.3 percent, was led by a second month of strong gains in the production of foods and consumer chemicals. The output of consumer energy products fell 1.2 percent, a drop that reflected the lowering of residential demand for electricity and gas that came from the abnormally ab·nor·mal adj. Not typical, usual, or regular; not normal; deviant. [Alteration (influenced by ab-1) of obsolete anormal, from Medieval Latin warm weather during the month. The production of business equipment fell 0.6 percent, reversing the upward-revised increase in October. The drop reflected widespread declines in the production of most types of business equipment. A notable exception was the production of computers, where continued strength pushed up the reading on the output of information processing information processing: see data processing. information processing Acquisition, recording, organization, retrieval, display, and dissemination of information. Today the term usually refers to computer-based operations. equipment. Declines in the production of civilian aircraft and business vehicles lowered the overall output of transit equipment, and further weakness in the production of farm machinery reduced output in the "other equipment" category. The output of construction supplies increased 0.7 percent after having risen 1.1 percent in October. Gains continued to be widespread among most of the underlying components of this index. In contrast, the production of business supplies fell 1.0 percent, a drop that reflected, in part, the reduced commercial use of energy. The production of materials fell 0.3 percent after having dropped 0.2 percent in October. The production of durable goods durable goods Goods, such as appliances and automobiles, that have a useful life over a number of periods. Firms that produce durable goods are often subject to wide fluctuations in sales and profits. Also called consumer durables. materials edged up 0.2 percent, as continued strength in the production of semiconductors, printed circuit boards, and other electronic components was only partly offset by a sharp drop in the production of basic metals; the production of iron and steel fell 5.0 percent. The output of nondurable goods materials slipped again, with weakness in the production of chemicals, textiles textiles, all fabrics made by weaving, felting, knitting, braiding, or netting, from the various textile fibers (see fiber). Types of Textiles , and paper. Because of the drop in electricity generation, the output of energy materials fell 1.8 percent. INDUSTRY GROUPS Manufacturing output was unchanged as gains in the production of nondurable goods were offset by a falloff fall·off n. A reduction or decrease: a falloff in car sales. Noun 1. falloff - a noticeable deterioration in performance or quality; "the team went into a slump"; "a gradual slack in in the production of durables Durables A category of consumer goods, durables are products that do not have to be purchased frequently. Some examples of durables are appliances, home and office furnishings, lawn and garden equipment, consumer electronics, toy makers, small tool manufacturers, sporting goods, . Among durables, declines in the production of primary metals, industrial machinery other than computers, and transportation equipment contributed to the November weakness. In contrast, the production of nondurable goods edged up 0.2 percent and was led by increases of 1/2 percent or more in the production of foods, petroleum products, and rubber and plastic products. The reading on mining production continued to fall, being pulled down by the continued contraction contraction, in physics contraction, in physics: see expansion. contraction, in grammar contraction, in writing: see abbreviation. contraction - reduction in oil and gas extraction extraction /ex·trac·tion/ (eks-trak´shun) 1. the process or act of pulling or drawing out. 2. the preparation of an extract. and declines in natural gas output and coal mining activity. The factory operating rate Operating rate The percentage of total production capacity of a company, industry, or country that is being used. operating rate The portion of capacity at which a business operates. dropped 0.4 percentage point, to 79.8 percent--more than 2% percentage points below the level it had reached in November 1997. Utilization utilization, n 1. the extent to which a given group uses a particular service in a specified period. Although usually expressed as the number of services used per year per 100 or per 1000 persons eligible for the service, utilization rates may be rates for both primary- and advanced-processing industries have fallen this year to levels below their historical averages. Similarly, utilization at mines fell to 83.5 percent--more than 4 percentage points below its year-ago level and well below its historical averages. REVISION (programming) revision - A release of a piece of software which is not a major release or a bugfix, but only introduces small changes or new features. OF INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION AND CAPACITY UTILIZATION On November 24, the Federal Reserve published revisions to its measures of industrial production (IP), capacity, capacity utilization, and industrial use of electric power. The revisions began with 1992 and incorporated updated source data for more recent years. This regular updating of source data for IP included annual data from the Bureau of the Census's 1996 Annual Survey of Manufactures and from selected editions of its 1997 Current Industrial Reports. Annual data from the Department of the Interior on metallic and nonmetallic non·me·tal·lic adj. 1. Not metallic. 2. Chemistry Of, relating to, or being a nonmetal. Adj. 1. minerals (except fuels) for 1996 and 1997 were also introduced. The updating also included revisions to the monthly indicators for each industry (physical product data, production-worker hours, or electric power usage) and revised seasonal factors. In addition, the revision introduced improved measures of production for semiconductors, coal, lawn and garden equipment, and aircraft. Capacity and capacity utilization were revised to incorporate preliminary data from the Census census, periodic official count of the number of persons and their condition and of the resources of a country. In ancient times, among the Jews and Romans, such enumeration was mainly for taxation and conscription purposes. Bureau's 1997 Survey of Plant Capacity. The statistics on the industrial use of electric power incorporated more complete reports received from utilities for the past few years as well as data from the 1996 Annual Survey of Manufactures. The revised data are available on the Board's web site, http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g17, and on diskettes from Publications Services (telephone 202-452-3245). Further information on these revisions is available from the Board's Industrial Output Section (telephone 202-452-3197). A document with printed tables of the revised estimates Revised estimate The third estimate of GDP released about three months after the measurement period. of series shown in the G.17 release is available upon request to the Industrial Output Section, Mail Stop 82, Division of Research and Statistics, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System The managing body of the Federal Reserve System, which sets policies on bank practices and the money supply. , Washington Washington, town, England Washington, town (1991 pop. 48,856), Sunderland metropolitan district, NE England. Washington was designated one of the new towns in 1964 to alleviate overpopulation in the Tyneside-Wearside area. , DC 20551.
Industrial production and capacity utilization, November 1998
Industrial production, index, 1992=100
Category 1998
Aug.(r) Sep.(r) Oct.(r) Nov.(p)
Total 132.4 131.9 132.2 131.8
Previous estimate 132.5 132.0 132.0 ...
Major market groups
Products, total(2) 124.9 124.2 124.8 124.4
Consumer goods 116.1 114.8 115.3 115.4
Business equipment 166.6 167.2 168.7 167.7
Construction supplies 128.0 126.7 128.1 129.0
Materials 144.4 144.4 144.1 143.7
Major industry groups
Manufacturing 135.7 135.2 136.0 135.9
Durable 159.8 159.5 160.7 160.4
Nondurable 111.3 110.6 111.0 111.2
Mining 103.7 102.7 101.9 100.7
Utilities 120.2 120.5 116.1 112.2
Capacity utilization, percent
1997
Average, Low, High,
1967-97 1982 1988-89 Nov.
Total 82.1 71.1 85.4 83.6
Previous estimate ... ... ... ...
Manufacturing 81.1 69.0 85.7 82.6
Advanced processing 80.5 70.4 84.2 81.6
Primary processing 82.3 66.2 88.9 85.4
Mining 87.5 80.3 88.0 87.9
Utilities 87.3 75.9 92.6 90.3
Percentage change
1998(1)
Aug.(r) Sept.(r) Oct.(r) Nov.(p)
Total 1.4 -.4 .2 -.3
Previous estimate 1.6 -.4 .0 ...
Major market groups
Products, total(2) 1.3 -.6 .5 -.3
Consumer goods 1.9 -1.1 .4 .1
Business equipment 1.9 .4 .9 -.6
Construction supplies -.3 -1.0 1.1 .7
Materials 1.7 0 -.2 -.3
Major industry groups
Manufacturing 1.6 -.4 .6 .0
Durable 3.5 -.2 .8 -.2
Nondurable -.8 -.6 .4 .2
Mining -.9 -1.0 -.8 -1.2
Utilities 1.6 .2 -3.7 -3.7
Capacity utilization, percent
1998
Aug.(r) Sept.(r) Oct.(r) Nov.(p)
Total 82.0 81.3 81.2 80.6
Previous estimate 82.0 81.4 81.1 ...
Manufacturing 80.7 80.1 80.2 79.8
Advanced processing 79.9 79.5 79.6 79.3
Primary processing 83.1 82.0 82.1 81.7
Mining 86.3 85.4 84.7 83.5
Utilities 95.1 95.2 91.6 88.5
Nov. 1997
to
Nov. 1998
Total 1.5
Previous estimate ...
Major market groups
Products, total(2) 1.8
Consumer goods -.5
Business equipment 7.9
Construction supplies 4.4
Materials .9
Major industry groups
Manufacturing 2.0
Durable 4.7
Nondurable -1.3
Mining -4.1
Utilities -1.2
MEMO Capacity,
percentage change
Nov. 1997 to
Nov. 1998
Total 5.0
Previous estimate ...
Manufacturing 5.6
Advanced processing 6.6
Primary processing 3.0
Mining .9
Utilities .7
NOTE: Data seasonally adjusted Seasonally adjusted Mathematically adjusted by moderating a macroeconomic indicator (e.g., oil prices/imports) so that relative comparisons can be drawn from month to month all year. or calculated from seasonally adjusted monthly area. (1) Change from preceding month. (2) Contains components in addition to those shown. (r) Revised. (p) Preliminary. |
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