France's industrial production up 0.5% in August

A good performance of construction activities drove up France's industrial production by 0.5 percent in August compared to 1.8 percent reported in July, French statistics bureau Insee said on Monday. According to the institute's data, manufacturing business grew by 0.7 percent over the period mainly due to boosted production of construction sector which registered a 3.2-percent increase. At the end of August, output of electrical and electronic businesses was up by 2.7 percent. However, transport equipment and food processing failed to resist the country's slowing growth. Both sluggish sectors fell by 2.2 percent and 0.6 percent respectively. As to the manufacturing of coke and refined petroleum products, the sector showed a strong performance after rising by 2 percent compared to 4.6-percent fall in July. France was the world's sixth-largest exporter and the fourth-largest importer of manufactured goods in 2009, according to the World Trade Organisation (WTO).