Industrial production index (IPRO) is a monthly measure of output of the industrial sector (manufacturing, mining, and utilities) of the economy as reported by the Federal Reserve. It is also a measure of capacity and capacity utilization. Currently the base year is 2012 with a value of 100. Industrial production year-over-year change (IPROG) is a percent change in IPRO from the same month in the previous year. i.e. Industrial production was 107.3 in May of 2018 and 103.67 in May of 2017. The IPROG would be 3.5% for May 2018. In SONAR, industrial production is tracked at the following industry granularities.
USA – total production
MFTG – total manufacturing
AERO – aerospace and other transportation equipment
CHEM – chemicals
COAL – coal and petroleum
COMP – computers and electronics
DMAN – total durable manufacturing
ELEC – electrical equipment, appliances and components
FMET – fabricated metals
MACH – machinery
MINE – mining
MISC – miscellaneous
MOTR – motor vehicles and parts
NMAN- nondurable manufacturing
NMIN – nonmetallic mineral products
PAPR – paper products
PLST – plastic products
PRMT – primary metals
PRNT – printing and related
SOFA – furniture
UTIL – utilities
WOOD – wood products
The year-over-year growth is also tracked in SONAR as IPROG.
Economists, analysts, high-level executives, owner-operators/carriers, specialized freight, and anyone concerned with the health of freight demand
Industrial output is perhaps the largest single contributor to domestic surface freight movements in the economy. Manufacturing makes up about 75% of the total industrial output in the economy and serves as the starting point for most of the goods that end up flowing through supply chains to the end consumer in the economy. The industry detail allows for insight into strong and weak areas of the manufacturing sector and speaks to many specialized categories of freight.
If IPRO is too high or increases too much that could be a signal of overheating and inflation. If IPRO decreases too much or too quickly that could be a sign of low demand and the Federal Reserve may consider economic stimulus.
Example: A user wants to see the industrial production change in the country year over year. They would enter IPROG.USA.
