The slowdown in the rise in consumer prices in France, to 4.5% over one year, was confirmed Thursday by INSEE. On the other hand, food prices continued to soar, with a 13.7% increase. Over one month, however, inflation resumed its ascent with an increase of 0.2% in June, against a drop of 0.1% in May, due to a slight rebound in the prices of petroleum products last month, a specified the National Institute of Statistics.
So-called core inflation, which excludes the most volatile prices and those subject to government intervention, making it possible to identify a long-term trend, remained high at 5.7% over one year, but it slowed down slightly from compared to May (5.8%). Compared to June 2022, energy prices fell by 3%, inflation having already been driven for several months by the rise in food products, which represent a larger share of consumption by low-income households.
The prices of fresh produce accelerated to 11.2% increase, after 10.7% due to the faster increase in fruit prices. The sub-category including milk, cheeses and eggs saw an increase of 19.8% over one year, meat by 11.9%, bread and cereals by 14.1%, sugar, jam, honey, chocolate and confectionery by 16.3%.
Lower energy prices
Manufactured goods are up by 4.2% compared to June 2022. Among them, clothing and footwear increased over one year by 4.9%, against 2.6% in May, which INSEE explains by “a shift in the calendar of summer sales, which started on June 28 in 2023 against June 22 in 2022”. The prices of services, which alone account for half of the average consumer basket, increased by 3%.
Among these, the prices of accommodation take 5.1%, those of catering 5.6%, plane tickets 9.9%, trains 8.5% and road transport 4.7% . Also classified under services, the “rent, water and household waste collection” category saw its increase limited to 2.8%. The fall in energy prices is due to that of petroleum products, which fell by 17.2%, those of gasoline falling by 11.3% and those of diesel by 18.8%. But electricity has risen by 10.1% and gas by 22%. Finally, the increase in the harmonized consumer price index (HICP), which serves as a basis for comparison at European level, is confirmed at 5.3%.