January 2011 Industrial Production, Capacity Utilization and Capacity

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Industrial production decreased 0.1 percent in January 2011 after having risen 1.2 percent in December. In the manufacturing sector, output increased 0.3 percent in January after an upwardly revised gain of 0.9 percent in December. Excluding motor vehicles and parts, factory production rose 0.1 percent in January. The output of utilities fell 1.6 percent in January, as temperatures moved closer to normal after unseasonably cold weather boosted the demand for heating in December; the output of utilities advanced 4.1 percent in that month. In January, the output of mines declined 0.7 percent. At 95.1 percent of its 2007 average, total industrial production in January was 5.2 percent above its level of a year earlier.
 

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The capacity utilization rate for total industry edged down to 76.1 percent, a rate 4.4 percentage points below its average from 1972 to 2010. The Wood Products utilization rate dropped by 1.0 percent while the rate for Paper ticked up by 0.1 percent.
 

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Capacity at the all-industries level crept higher (0.1 percent), but Wood Products fell 0.4 percent; Paper was essentially unchanged.