August 2011 Industrial Production, Capacity Utilization and Capacity

Click image for larger version

Industrial production advanced 0.2 percent in August. Manufacturing rose 0.4 percent in August, after a similarly sized gain in July, and the rates of change were revised down slightly in April, May, and June. At 94.0 percent of its 2007 average, total industrial production for August was 3.4 percent above its year-earlier level. The output of Wood Products and Paper factories both shrank, respectively 0.8 and 0.3 percent.
 

Click image for larger version

Click image for larger version

Capacity utilization for total industry edged up to 77.4 percent, a rate 1.9 percentage points (2.5 percent) above its level from a year earlier but 3.0 percentage points below its long-run (1972-2010) average. Manufacturing capacity utilization also rose by 0.3 percent from July. Wood Products capacity utilization decreased by 0.6 percent, while Paper trailed slightly with -0.3 percent.
 

Click image for larger version

Capacity at the all-industries and manufacturing levels crept higher (0.1 percent); Wood Products dropped by 0.2 percent while Paper declined by 0.1 percent.