Industrial Production And Capacity

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
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.