Source:Insee
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SEPT. HOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTION of Manufactured Products dips but car sales pick up
28 OCTOBER 2011
HOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTION of manufactured products fell -0.2% month-on-month pushed down by sales of textile-leather products -4.7%, the second consecutive drop as June summer sales had over performed compared with pre-crisis levels. Sales of durable goods jumped +1.9% as car sales posted their strongest increase +2.8% since January and climbed over one percentage point compared with the previous month. Sales of household equipment surged +1.3% while sales of other manufactured products (furniture, washing machines) turned positive and rose, although modestly, +0.2%.
Households somehow shrugged off the accumulation of negative signals emanating from all sides (record high public debt, the Euro area's survival over Greece's lingering debt crisis, the stock exchange worst performance in the last nine years, A-list banks under possible downgrade) and put belt-tightening aside at least temporarily as unusually sunny weather pushed up morale and therefore consumption. September recorded the hottest temperatures in the last 50 years, according to the national weather forecast agency, and even reached over 30C up the Loire Valley. Whereas the summer months heavy rains had dented food product sales into negative territory, in September food sales picked up +0.5%.
In one year however, household consumption of manufactured products fell -1% to Euro 36.1 billion. Sales of household equipment grew +1.9% while car sales decreased by -2.8% due to April and July substantial declines, respectively -10.1% and -1.8%. Sales of textile-leather dived -7.3% on the same yearly period as seasonal sales solely retained shoppers interest.
Sales of other manufactured products grew +0.8% while sales of food products grew a modest +0.3% and reflected declines recorded simultaneously with food price inflation successively in March, May and June.
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