Industrial activity falls central U.S. in February:the Chicago Fed

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago said Tuesday that its index of manufacturing activity in the central region of the United States fell in February, mainly due to a slowdown in automobile production.

The index fell 0.8 percent in February, seasonally adjusted reading of 82.6 from an upwardly revised 83.2 in January, originally reported at 83.1.

Compared with February last year, the production of the central region decreased by 0.5 percent, far from the national increase of 2.0 percent.

Auto production in the central zone contracted 2.8 percent in the month after posting a strong increase of 4.7 percent in January. Compared with February of 2009, automobile production in the region experienced an increase of 10.0 percent, according to the report.

Regional steel production continued its upward path, posting an increase of 0.9 percent in the month, after seeing a 1.5 percent rise in January. This was the only industry that showed positive results in February, the four studied by the indicator.

The production of machinery fell 0.2 percent, after posting an increase of 1.7 percent in the previous month, while the resource sector output fell 0.5 percent, after rising 1.3 percent in January.

Three of the five segments of resources, food production, chemical and metal products, fell in February, while activity in the lumber and paper segment increased in the month.

Compared with the previous year, the regional resource production showed an increase of 3.0 percent, below the national increase of 3.9 percent.

The Fed manufacturing index of Chicago is a monthly estimate of manufacturing output in major industries in the region. The survey covers the five states comprising the Seventh Federal Reserve district: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin.

(Reporting by Camille Drummond)