French industrial production took an unexpected tumble in January as it contracted by 1.2 percent month-on-month compared to the 0.2 per cent fall expected by the Bloomberg consensus of economists.

On a year-on-year basis, industrial production fell 3.5% in January compared to expectations for a 2.8% decline.

Manufacturing output decreased 1.4% in January, down 2.1% over the last three months (quarter-on-quarter), and fell 4.6% compared to last year's level, according to France's National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies.

The decline shows that the slowdown continues in the Eurozone's second-largest economy after prior data showed that industrial production slowed markedly during the last quarter of 2012.

After contracting 0.2% in the fourth quarter of 2012, the French economy is expected to shrink another 0.1% in the first quarter of 2013, according to a Bloomberg consensus.

JP

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