France Industrial Output Slips in December

Industrial production in France fell by 0.7% month-on-month in December 2025, reversing an upwardly revised 0.1% gain in the previous month and defying market expectations of a 0.2% increase. This marked the first decline since August, as manufacturing output slipped (-0.8% vs 0.5%), driven mainly by a sharp fall in the manufacture of transport equipment (-9.9% vs 3.8%). The drop was led by declines in the manufacture of other transport equipment (-15.8% vs 4.3%), particularly in aerospace construction, where the steep fall in December offset the gains recorded over the previous three months. Moreover, output in water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation fell significantly (-2.1% vs -0.2%). In contrast, output declined at a softer pace in mining and quarrying (-0.2% vs -1.7%) and electricity, gas, steam and air-conditioning supply (-0.1% vs -1.8%). On a quarterly basis, industrial production rose 0.3%, while the year-on-year output increased 1.8%.