G17: Revised Estimates of Industrial Capacity

The estimates for industrial capacity in 2013 were revised for today's G.17 release. The revisions reflect updated measures of physical capacity from various government and trade sources as well as updated estimates of capital spending by industry. Capacity for the industrial sector, measured from the fourth quarter of 2013 to the fourth quarter of 2014, is now expected to increase 3.1 percent, a rate that is 0.1 percentage point faster than previously estimated. Manufacturing capacity is expected to rise 2.2 percent in 2014, a pace 0.4 percentage point less than in previous estimates; the downward revisions to capacity were widespread among manufacturing industries. The increase in mining capacity for 2014 has been revised up 3.4 percentage points to 9.2 percent, entirely as a result of an upward revision to the capacity for oil and gas extraction. The gain in capacity for utilities, at 1.0 percent, is unrevised.