Industrial production and capacity utilization data for March 2019 are now available.
Industrial production edged down 0.1 percent in March after edging up 0.1 percent in February; for the first quarter as a whole, the index slipped 0.3 percent at an annual rate. Manufacturing production was unchanged in March after declining in both January and February. The index for utilities rose 0.2 percent, while mining output moved down 0.8 percent. At 110.2 percent of its 2012 average, total industrial production was 2.8 percent higher in March than it was a year earlier. Capacity utilization for the industrial sector decreased 0.2 percentage point in March to 78.8 percent, a rate that is 1.0 percentage point below its long-run (1972-2018) average.Note: The annual revision to industrial production and capacity utilization was published on March 27, 2019. Data referred to in the release dated March 15, 2019, were superseded by the data issued at the time of the annual revision. ]]>
