Industry Output Reaches Peak With 2.7-Per-Cent January Gain: Mining Output Down
Production at the Nation's factories, mines and utilities rose 2.7 per cent above December, with virtually all the gain concentrated :n the durable goods industries.</br></br>The BoardÛªs new measurement put the January output at 112, as compared with 109 in December. The old record of 110 was set last June when business was stocking up in preparation for the coming steel strike.</br></br>In its revised index of production, the Board figures output in 1957 as 100. This was also the level in January, 1959.</br></br>Last month producers of durable goods stepped up their production more than 5 per cent above December to a new high. Nondurable production was about unchanged at the record levels reached in December and last summer.</br></br>Cutbacks in coal and oil trimmed mining output slight-| ly. Utilities increased their output less than 1 per cent.