The main steel using sectors in France gave a mixed performance in February 2015 according to the Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques (INSEE). Manufacturing output was flat month-on-month while construction output continued to fall. Meanwhile French car production rose in February using the same comparison, Kallanish notes.

French industrial production was overall flat in February, compared to January. The manufacturing sector saw zero growth on the same basis. Both areas had seen 0.3% growth in January. For the period December 2014 to February 2015 inclusive, manufacturing fell by -0.5% compared with the same period 12 months before.

Construction output in the second month fell -2.2% month-on-month, INSEE says, following a -0.1% fall in January. Over the three months December 2014 to February 2015 output from the sector fell by -6.5% year-on-year.

The news in the automotive sector was better in February. Car and trailer manufacture increased by 1.5% month-on-month and by 2.1% y-on-y in the three month period to the end of February, INSEE says.