According to the statistics released by the
US Federal Reserve,
US industrial
production advanced 1.2 percent in May after having risen 0.7 percent in April. As compared to May 2009 levels, the country's industrial
production rose 7.6 percent in May this year.
Manufacturing output climbed 0.9 percent last month, its third consecutive monthly gain of about one percent, and was 7.9 percent above its year-earlier level. Outside of
manufacturing, the output of mines edged down 0.2 percent month on month.
As compared to April, the
production index for durable goods advanced 1.7 percent in May; most major categories of durables strengthened. Sizable gains were recorded for wood products, primary metals, fabricated metal products, machinery, motor vehicles and parts, and furniture and related products.
In May, the capacity utilization rate for overall
US industry rose one percentage point to 74.7 percent, 6.2 percentage points above the rate from a year earlier, but 5.9 percentage points below its average from 1972 to 2009.