- Prior 47.4
French manufacturing continues to struggle with factory production declining for a tenth straight month and businesses turning pessimistic towards the outlook in the year ahead. The only positive is that improving supply conditions is helping to cool inflation a little bit. S&P Global notes that:
"The continued downturn in France's manufacturing sector raises questions about the underlying strength of the country's economy, despite the earlier released 'flash' PMI survey revealing a strong upturn in the service sector.
"Although production volumes and new factory orders aren't falling as sharply as they were towards the end of last year, a strong reduction in buying activity, inventory drawdowns and a softening of business confidence paint a downbeat picture for the manufacturing sector.
"Testament to this weakness is a further increase in the Suppliers' Delivery Times Index, which stands at its highest level since August 2012. That said, this has helped cool manufacturing price pressures significantly, with input cost inflation running below its long-run average. We're seeing less aggressive price setting as a result, and even discounting in some cases, which should help bring consumer price inflation down further over the coming months."
