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French industrial output falls by 0.9 pct in April

Xinhua, June 10, 2015 Adjust font size:

France's industrial production fell by 0.9 percent in April from a month earlier mainly due to a decline in coke and refined petroleum products activity, data released by the national statistics bureau Insee showed on Wednesday.

France, the second leading economy in the eurozone, also recorded a drop in manufacturing output of 1.0 percent.

After witnessing a strong performance, coke and refined petroleum products tumbled by 10.8 percent in April from a month earlier "due to a temporary shutdown of a refinery," according to Insee.

Output of transport equipment decreased by 3.3 percent compared to the 0.9 percent rise in March while figures from food processing businesses inched down by 0.1 percent.

Quarterly figures showed a 0.9-percent decrease in the country's industrial production for the February-April period this year from the same period in the previous year with manufacturing output up by 0.8 percent.

In a bid to overturn a decade-long trend of decreasing competitiveness in the country's industrial sector and to stop job losses, the government unveiled a billion-euro tax break for companies, compensating with spending cuts and higher consumer taxes. Endit