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In April, households’ consumption in goods is dynamic anew (+0.6%)

In April, households’ expenditure in goods increased by 0.6% in volume*, after having decreased by 2.6% in March. This slight bouncing is attributable to that of expenditure in energy products. On the other hand, purchases in clothing markedly decreased.

Engineered goods : decreasing

Durables: slightly decreasing

Households’ expenditure in durables decreased in April (-0.6%, after +1.9% in March), notably because of a decrease in car purchases (–2.0% in April after +2.8%) imputable to the new market. Conversely, purchases in household durables kept increasing (+1.1% after +0.6%).

Textile-leather: sharply decreasing

Consumption of textile and leather markedly declined in April (-8.2% after -0.3% in March) and reached its lowest level since January 2002. The rainy weather could have been unfavourable to purchases in spring-summer clothing.

Other engineered goods: decreasing

Consumption expenditure in other engineered goods decreased in April (-1.0% after +0.1% in March), notably those in hardware.

[* Volumes are chained and all figures are trading days and seasonally adjusted.]

Total consumption of goods

Total consumption of goods

Food and engineered goods

Food and engineered goods

Decomposition of engineered goods

Decomposition of engineered goods

Food products: slightly decreasing

After a strong start in 2012, followed by a decrease in March (–2.1%), consumption in food products decreased anew in April (-0.5%).

Energy: new bouncing

After a sharp increase in February (+11.5%) and the following decrease in March (–11.8%), households’ consumption in energy products markedly bounced anew in April (+10.2%): cold temperatures in April notably drove heating purchases up (electricity, gas, fuel).

Revisions a bit larger than usually

The evolutions of previous months have been revised to a larger extent than during previous releases, but this revision magnitude is typical of this period of the year. In March, the decrease of household consumption in goods is thus estimated at –2.6%, instead of -2.9% previously. Revisions notably come from the benchmarking on reviewed annual account, from the reestimation of calendar and seasonal adjustment models, and also from the integration of new indicators. In particular, sources concerning textile and leather consumption have also been changed by integrating monthly information from the Institut français de la mode (IFM), in order to get closer to the methodology used for the corresponding annual account.

Energy

Energy
Households consumption expenditures in goods
In chained billion euros
Févr. Mars Avril Avr.12/
2012 2012 2012 Avr.11
Food products 15.051 14.739 14.658
Change (%) 1.2 –2.1 –0.5 –2.2
Engineered goods 20.597 20.780 20.323
change (%) –0.7 0.9 –2.2 –1.8
Of which:
Automobiles 4.642 4.771 4.673
Change (%) –0.7 2.8 –2.0 –1.0
Household durables 5.104 5.133 5.192
Change (%) –0.5 0.6 1.1 5.1
Textile-leather 3.915 3.903 3.583
Change (%) –2.2 –0.3 –8.2 –12.8
Other engineered goods 5.978 5.982 5.920
Change (%) 0.5 0.1 –1.0 0.1
Energy 6.883 6.074 6.693
Change (%) 11.5 –11.8 10.2 12.0
Including petroleum products 4.109 3.753 4.041
Change (%) 8.7 –8.7 7.7 10.1
Total 42.606 41.481 41.722
Change (%) 2.2 –2.6 0.6 0.4
Manufactured goods 36,403 36.208 35.747
Change (%) 0.5 –0.5 –1.3 –1.6

Informations Rapides

n° 133 - May 31, 2012

Household consumption expenditure on goods - April 2012

Next issue June 28, 2013 08:45 - May 2013

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