Household consumption spending on goods fell 1.3% in France in December, notably weighed down by food purchases that fell 1.7%, INSEE said on Tuesday.
In a context of sharp price rises (around 6% in one year), “in the fourth quarter of 2022 as a whole, household consumption of goods fell by 1.9%”, specifies the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE). ).
In November, the indicator rose 0.6% (variation revised upwards by 0.1 point compared to the first INSEE estimate), after a strong fall of 2.7% in October. The drop in the indicator in December “is explained by the decrease in consumption of food and manufacturing (-1.7%),” indicates the Institute.
Purchases of food products fell for the seventh consecutive month and fell by 2.8% in the fourth quarter as a whole. This collapse is explained by the double-digit inflation that has plagued food for several months.
Energy sobriety efforts
Energy prices have also been rising sharply for months, but in December French household energy consumption was still up 0.7%, according to INSEE.
“In the fourth quarter of 2022 as a whole, energy consumption fell by 5.5%, in relation to a very mild autumn and undoubtedly also with the energy sobriety efforts” that the Government urged in September in the face of tensions of energy supply.
Conversely, purchases of manufactured goods fell by close to 2% in December, penalized mainly by the drop in purchases of durable goods (-3.5% after +2.2% in November).
Among these “durable goods” less consumed by the French in December were “housing capital goods (-4.9%), in particular telephones” and “transport goods (-2.3% in December), particularly in used vehicles”.
On the other hand, during a month marked by the end-of-year holidays, “clothing-textile spending increased by 0.8% in volume, the same as in November”. Compared to December 2021, total household consumption spending fell by 5.6%, food spending by 8.4% and energy spending by 8.1%.
Source: BFM TV
