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Economy in Brief

Industrial Production Slips and Slows in France
by Robert Brusca August 10, 2007

For the second quarter as whole, industrial production is off in France at a 1% pace. This drop is led by weakness in auto output that has fallen at a 9.2% annual rate in the quarter. But the output of consumer goods and intermediate goods has gone flat in the quarter. Capital goods output is still expanding at a slightly slower 1.3% annual rate in Q2 over Q1. IP had risen by 3.8% (saar) in Q1 with auto output up by 10.7 (saar) in the quarter.

For June itself the intermediate goods sector is the most surprising with output falling by 1.4% adding to the weakness in often volatile autos where output is off by an even sharper 2.3%. For autos it is the second monthly drop in a row. For intermediate goods the drop comes after a gain of 0.7% in May.

French IP Excluding construction
Saar except m/m Jun-07 May-07 Apr-07 3-mo 6-mo 12-mo
IP total -0.5% 0.5% -1.0% -3.8% -0.2% -0.8%
  Consumer goods 0.2% 1.0% -1.1% 0.0% 2.7% 1.0%
  Capital goods 0.9% 0.1% -0.7% 1.1% 3.3% 0.7%
  Intermediate goods -1.4% 0.7% -0.5% -4.8% -2.4% -1.3%
Memo            
Auto -2.3% -2.7% 0.7% -16.2% -4.4% -6.9%
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