Industrial production fell in France by 0.9% in February compared to January, still remaining 4.6% below its pre-pandemic level, INSEE reported on Tuesday.
Manufacturing production alone fell by 0.5%, after a strong increase of 2.2% in January, but is still 4.5% below its pre-pandemic level, specified the The national institute of statistics and economic studies.
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In detail, after increases in January, production fell by 1.3% in the "
other industries
" category, which notably includes textiles, wood, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, as well as by 2.7% in extractive industries, energy and water.
The fall already observed in January continued in transport equipment (-1.8% after -4.3% in January), particularly in the automobile industry.
Conversely, production continued to rise in capital goods (+1.5%), agro-food industries (+0.9%) and coking-refining (+0.6%).
Compared to the pre-health crisis level, "
production remains behind (...) in most industrial branches
", underlines INSEE.
Thus it is in "
very sharp decline
" in transport equipment (-27.6%), but "
more contained
" in the extractive industries, energy and water (-1.5%) and consumer goods. equipment (-1%).
On the other hand, it exceeded its pre-pandemic level in the agro-food industries (+2.1%) and coking-refining (+2.9%).
