French Industrial Production Declines More Than Forecast

(RTTNews) - France's industrial production decreased more than expected in September on widespread declines across all sectors, data from the statistical office INSEE revealed on Tuesday.

Industrial production fell 0.9 percent on month in September, in contrast to the 1.1 percent increase in August. This was the first fall in four months. Economists had forecast a monthly drop of 0.5 percent.

Within overall output, manufacturing output slid 0.8 percent, partially offsetting the 1.4 percent increase seen in the preceding period. The 0.8 percent fall largely reflects 0.9 percent drop in machinery and equipment goods and 1.8 percent decline in 'other manufacturing'.

At the same time, mining and quarrying posted the biggest decline of 1.2 percent, while construction output dropped only 0.3 percent.

Cumulative output over the third quarter dropped 0.9 percent in manufacturing industry and by 0.6 percent in the whole industry, data showed.