Industrial Production Rose 1.6% in December

Washington, DC, January 15, 2021-Industrial production advanced 1.6% in December, with gains of 0.9% for manufacturing, 1.6% for mining, and 6.2% for utilities, according to the Federal Reserve. 

The increase for utilities resulted from a rebound in demand for heating after unseasonably warm weather in November. For the fourth quarter as a whole, total industrial production rose at an annual rate of 8.4%. At 105.7% of its 2012 average, total industrial production in December was 3.6% lower than it was a year earlier and 3.3% below its pre-pandemic February reading. Capacity utilization for the industrial sector rose 1.1 percentage points in December to 74.5%, a rate that is 5.3 percentage points below its long-run (1972–2019) average.