According to the statistics released by France's National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE), in January this year household consumption of manufactured goods in France decreased by 2.7 percent month on month, following an increase of 1.3 percent registered in December 2009 as compared to the previous month.
Expenditure on durables decreased significantly in January, with a decline rate at 7.8 percent month on month, after a 2.5 percent increase in December on month-on-month basis.
Car purchases, which went down by 16.7 percent, were the main contributor to this decrease. The French government's car scrapping incentive encouraged households to buy new vehicles before the end of 2009. Car purchases had increased by 5.4 percent in December over November and by 10.7 percent in November over October.
Purchases of household durables remained dynamic in January with a growth rate of 1.3 percent after a slight decrease of 0.3 percent in December. Each component, expenditures on domestic electrical appliances, electronics and computers, and on furniture, saw positive growth.