French industrial output grows 1.5 pct in August

A good performance of car and food processing sectors drove up France's industrial productionby 1.5 percent in August compared to 0.6 percent in July, French statistics bureau Insee said on Wednesday. According to Insee's data, the manufacturing business grew by 1.8 percent over the period mainly due to boosted production of the auto industry, which registered a 9.9-percent increase. Output of food businesses rose by 3.6 percent over the period against a 2.6-percent decline in July. Growth of electrical and electronic activities tumbled to 0.7 percent in August compared a 3-percent rise a month earlier. The manufacturing of coke and refined petroleum products showed a weak performance, falling by 2.6 percent in August. The industrial output over the three months to the end of August increased by 0.2 percent compared to the preceding three months, with manufacturing output up by 0.7 percent.