26 January 2010

2010- n° 27

In December, the scrappage program drives consumption in manufactured goods upward (+2.1%) Household consumption expenditure on goods - december 2009

Households consumption in manufactured goods increased in December by 2.1% in volume*, after +0.1% in November. In Q4, this consumption increased by 3.0% (after –0.8% in Q3). This is the highest increase over the last 10 years (+3.2% in 1999 Q3).

Over the year 2009, consumption in manufactured goods increased by +1.0% after –0.6% in 2008.

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

Expenditures in durables increased in December (+4.3%), after an already sizeable rise in November (+2.0%).

More than in November, car purchases are the most dynamic (+9.1%) among durables, which had notably increased since last summer (+8.4% between August and November). Households seem to have make the most of the scrappage program which was cut off on January 1st, from 1,000€ to 700€.

Household durables purchases decreased by 0.1% after a small increase in November (+0.2%). This decrease is due in particular to expenditures in electronics and computers.

In December, expenditures in textile increased by 2.0%, after –1.5% in November. Hence, in Q4 these expenditures increased by 2.6% after -2.2% in Q3. Over 2009, these expenditures decreased by 1.7%, a bit less than 2008 (–2.2%).

Other manufactured goods expenditures increased in December by 0.5% (after -0.6% in November). In particular, sales in hardware products and stationery products were dynamic.

In Q4, these expenditures increased by 0.5% but they decreased by 0.9% over the year 2009.

For November, expenditures in durables are unchanged. Expenditure in textile are upgraded (+0.3 point). Other manufactured goods expenditures are upgraded too (+0.4 point).

These revisions are mainly due to the update of seasonnal and working day adjustment. To a lesser extent, they are explained by new informations collected on other manufactured goods.