Source:Insee

31 JANUARY 2012

HOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTION of manufactured products dipped in negative territory to -0.7% in December month-on-month despite new passenger car sales +1.6% rise, the second consecutive increase, as sales of household equipment stayed flat unlike previous periods due to shoppers anticipation on the January Winter sales. Sales of  textile-leather goods recorded -0.9% decline as bargain hunting was postponed for similar reasons. Other manufactured products (phone equipment, DVD equipment, dishwashers, cooking equipment, bicycles and motorcycles) by contrast turned positive or +0.2% a mix of Christmas gifts and end of the year home improvement. Consumption of food products decreased by 1% as households overwhelmingly chose to cook at home for the holiday celebration rather than overspend on supermarkets ready-made products. Mild weather temperatures allowed for lesser energy consumption -2.7% leading oil products consumption to drop -4.2% on the same period.

In one year, household consumption closed in the red, -2.4% as sales of manufactured goods fell -1.6% pushed down by new passenger car sales -7% drop. Textile-clothing products recorded a similar pattern and decreased by 4.1% as the entire year only counted four months in positive territory (February, April, June, October) in connection with ad hoc sales and summer purchases for the summer holidays. Sales of household equipment and other manufactured products inversely ended the year respectively up +3% and +1.7% mechanically boosted by last year January sales and households arbitrage in V shaped pattern. Sales of energy products dropped a substantial -10.1%, in association with mild weather and high petrol prices, +10.3% on the same yearly period, leading oil products consumption to perform equally negatively or -10.2%. Overall consumption thus fell -3.1%, more than two percentage points below December 2009 since in 2011, households buying power was dented by inflationary pressures on top of a lack of confidence triggered by a stop-and-go lingering Euro area debt crisis.