French Industrial Production Rises in January, Beating Forecasts

French industrial production rose in January, following two months of output declines due to coronavirus restrictions, data from statistics agency Insee showed Wednesday.

Total industrial output–comprising output in manufacturing, energy and construction–rose 3.3% in January compared with December. Economists had forecast a 0.5% increase in January, according to a poll by The Wall Street Journal.

Insee also upwardly revised the on-month industrial production figure for December to a 0.7% decline, from a 0.8% drop previously.

Compared with February 2020–the last month before the coronavirus pandemic hit Europe–total industrial output was down 1.7% in January 2021 in calendar-adjusted terms.

Manufacturing output was up 3.3% in January compared with the previous month, construction rose 16.3% and energy production increased by 2.9%.
Source: Dow Jones