According to the statistics released by France's National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE), in September this year producer prices in French industry rose by just 0.3 percent compared to August, following a stronger month-on-month rise of 1.3 percent recorded in August. Producer prices for manufactured products rose by 0.3 percent in September compared to August and were up 2.4 percent compared to the same month of last year.
Meanwhile, in September imports of articles of iron or steel, which ranked 16th among the products with the highest import value, fell by 3.7 percent compared to September 2011, but were up 1.7 percent month on month, amounting to $203.9 million.
In the first nine months of 2012, the country's iron and steel imports stood at $14.9 billion, decreasing by 2.2 percent compared to the corresponding period of 2011, while its imports of articles of iron or steel amounted to $1.7 billion, down by 12.7 percent year on year.