Industrial production in France fell by 0.5% in July compared to June, INSEE reported on Friday.
Industrial production in France fell by 0.5% in July compared to June, penalized by the 0.9% drop in manufacturing production, INSEE indicated on Friday.
This drop follows the 0.8% rebound in industrial production observed in June, the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies said in a press release.
All sectors of manufacturing industry affected
In July, production fell in almost all major sectors of manufacturing, which accounts for about 82% of the industrial production index.
This is particularly the case for the manufacture of transport equipment (-4.9%) including automobiles (-4.6%), coking and refining (-9.9%), the agri-food industries (-0.3%) and the manufacture of other industrial goods (-0.6%) such as textiles and clothing (-0.7%) or metallurgy (-1.2%).
The production of capital goods, such as computer, electronic and optical products, stands out with a 2% increase. In the “extractive industries, energy, water” sector, production has again increased (+1.8%). Construction is down by 2.2%.
Over the last three months (May-July), industrial production fell by 2.3% compared to the same three months of 2023, and manufacturing production fell by 3%, dragged down by the automobile industry (-17.8%) and coking-refining (-5.1%).
Inflation of energy prices also called into question
Regarding the main energy-intensive branches, production in the last three months remains below the level reached in the second quarter of 2021, the last before energy prices increased sharply.
“In the context of high electricity and gas prices billed to companies given the contracts negotiated in 2022 and 2023 for 2024, energy-intensive sectors are particularly exposed to the increase in their production costs, which could weigh on their production,” INSEE stressed.
The organization cites the steel industry (-29.5%), the manufacture of basic chemicals (-17.5%), the manufacture of glass and glassware (-17.3%) and that of pulp, paper and cardboard (-10.2%).
