PARIS, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- France's industrial output fell by 0.7 percent in December 2025 from the previous month, dragged down by a sharp decline in manufacturing activity, data released Thursday by the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) showed.
Manufacturing output dropped by 0.8 percent in December 2025, reversing the gains recorded a month earlier. In November 2025, industrial production had posted a modest increase of 0.1 percent, while manufacturing output rose by 0.5 percent, INSEE said.
INSEE attributed the downturn in December 2025 in manufacturing largely to a steep contraction in the production of transport equipment. Output in the sector fell by 9.9 percent over the month after expanding by 3.8 percent in November 2025. The statistics institute noted that the aerospace industry in particular saw a pronounced decline, offsetting the increases observed over the previous three months.
On a year-on-year basis, industrial output increased by 1.8 percent in December 2025 compared with December 2024. For the fourth quarter of 2025 as a whole, industrial output was 1.8 percent higher than in the same period of 2024, while manufacturing output rose by 2.0 percent. ■
