French July industrial production falls unexpectedly on declining manufacturing output

French industrial production dropped unexpectedly in July as manufacturing output declined sharply in the month. According to France’s official statistics office, INSEE, the industrial output dropped 0.6 percent in July in month-on-month terms, after declining 0.7 percent in the previous month.  Consensus expectations were for a rise of 0.2 percent.

The country’s manufacturing output dropped 0.3 percent in July, following a decline of 1.1 percent in June. Manufacturing output had dropped in the past three months by 0.4 percent in sequential terms. Output in mining and quarrying fell sharply in the month.

Manufacturing output in the past three months of this year was quite stable as compared with the same months of 2015. On a year-on-year basis, manufacturing output fell 0.1 percent. Over the year, manufacturing output dropped severely in that of beverages and food products.

Output also dropped in mining and quarrying over a year. Output dropped again in the manufacture of machinery and equipment goods by 3.3 percent in July after falling 2.3 percent. Meanwhile, construction output rose 4.8 percent month-on-month in July, following a decline of 0.4 percent in the previous month.

On a year-on-year basis, industrial production in France fell by 0.2 percent in July 2016.