French Inflation Weakens In October

(RTTNews) - France's inflation slowed in October as food price growth softened and energy prices logged sharper fall, preliminary estimate from the statistical office INSEE showed Friday.

Consumer price inflation eased more-than-expected to 1.0 percent from 1.2 percent in September. Inflation was seen at 1.1 percent.

Likewise, harmonized inflation slowed to 0.9 percent from 1.1 percent a month ago. This was also below the forecast of 1.0 percent.

Data showed that there was a more sustained fall in prices of energy, driven by the decrease in those of gas and petroleum products. Overall energy prices decreased 5.6 percent after a 4.4 percent fall.

Food price inflation softened to 1.3 percent from 1.7 percent. Meanwhile, services inflation held steady at 2.4 percent.

Compared to previous month, the consumer price index edged up 0.1 percent, as expected, following September's 1.0 percent decline. Similarly, the harmonized index of consumer prices rose 0.1 percent, in contrast to the 1.1 percent decrease a month ago.

Another report from the statistical office INSEE showed that producer prices in the French industry for the home market were up 0.1 percent annually in September, the same as in August. Month-on-month, producer prices edged down 0.2 percent, after falling at the same rate in August.