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Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomeNewsEconomyIndustrial Production Posts Largest Decline Since 1946 Due to COVID-19 Mitigation

Industrial Production Posts Largest Decline Since 1946 Due to COVID-19 Mitigation

Industry production 4.0 and technology concept, depicting factory production on a conveyor belt with factory operational workers in uniform. (Photo: AdobeStock)

As With Industrial Production, Manufacturing Output Posts Biggest Decline Since 1946

Industry production 4.0 and technology concept, depicting factory production on a conveyor belt with factory operational workers in uniform. (Photo: AdobeStock)
Industry production 4.0 and technology concept, depicting factory production on a conveyor belt with factory operational workers in uniform. (Photo: AdobeStock)

Washington, D.C. (PPD) — The Federal Reserve Bank reported total industrial production fell 5.4% in March as the coronavirus (COVID-19) led many factories to suspend operations. That’s the largest monthly decline since January 1946.

Forecasts ranged from a low of -5.5% to a high of only -2.0%. The consensus forecast was -4.2%.

Manufacturing output fell 6.3% in March. That’s the largest monthly decline since February 1946. The largest decline came from motor vehicles and parts.

Forecasts for manufacturing output ranged from a low of -7.0% to a high of only -2.5%. The consensus forecast was -4.0%.

The indexes for utilities and mining declined 3.9% and 2.0%, respectively.

At 103.7% of its 2012 average, the level of total industrial production in March was 5.5% lower than a year earlier. Capacity utilization for the industrial sector fell 4.3 percentage points to 72.7% in March, a rate that is 7.1 percentage points below its long-run (1972–2019) average.

Forecasts for the capacity utilization rate ranged from a low of 69.8% to a high of only 75.3%. The consensus forecast was 74.0%.

Earlier Wednesday, the New York Federal Reserve reported the Empire State Manufacturing Survey showed factory activity in New York plunged to its lowest level ever in April. 

Written by

PPD Business, the economy-reporting arm of People's Pundit Daily, is "making sense of current events." We are a no-holds barred, news reporting pundit of, by, and for the people.

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