French industrial output fell unexpectedly in June, weighed down by declining production of food, cars and capital goods, heightening fears of a recession in France and adding to the pile of weak euro zone data. Output overall fell by 0.4 percent in the euro zone's second-biggest economy, national statistics office INSEE said on Monday, while economists polled by Reuters had expected it to rise by the same amount.
May's headline figure was revised down to -2.9 percent from a previously reported -2.6 percent. "It shows that French growth has shifted into the red very quickly. The deterioration has been very rapid. When you look at all the main indicators we have at our disposal, they are all bad," said Nicolas Bouzou, an economist at consultancy Asteres.
The French data follows Italian growth figures on Friday which showed a fall in gross domestic product of 0.3 percent in the second quarter, which some analysts believe set the stage for a quarter-on-quarter euro zone contraction.
Italy's industrial production increased by just 0.1 percent in June, data last week showed, while Spain's industrial output fell a record 9 percent year-on-year that month. Germany also posted a smaller-than-expected rise. Industrial output figures for the eurozone are due to be released on Wednesday.
The French index's notoriously volatile autos component fell 2.9 percent in June compared to a month earlier, while agri-food production fell 0.9 percent and capital goods fell 1.0 percent. Semi-finished goods fell 0.4 percent but energy rose 1.4 percent and construction output increased by 0.7 percent.
Comments
Comments are closed.