French industrial output fell unexpectedly sharply during October official data released today showed.
National statistics office INSEE said industrial output excluding the construction sector dropped 0.6 per cent in October, confounding some optimistic forecasts of a rise. Production fell 1.2 per cent year-on-year.
INSEE said the fall was biggest in the energy products sector, with a 2.8 per cent drop. However analysts said they were more worried by a fall of 0.9 per cent in unfinished goods and 0.5 per cent in equipment.
"What is particularly bad is the drop in unfinished goods because they are upstream in the industrial cycle, so it doesn't augur well for any rapid recovery," said an analsyst.
Economists had expected on average a month-on-month gain in output of 0.1 per cent, ranging from forecasts of a 0.3 per cent drop to hopes of a 0.4 per cent rise.
Separately, INSEE said non-farm payrolls rose 0.1 per cent to 15,459,300 for the third quarter, revising earlier provisional figures pointing to a 0.2 per cent gain. Total French unemployment is hovering at about 9 per cent.
Other recent data in the French economy have pointed to a stabilisation but underlined that no rapid recovery can be expected.