France's CPI down by 0.4 pct in July

PARIS - France's consumer price index (CPI), a key gauge for inflation, fell by 0.4 percent in July from June, the national statistics institute Insee said Tuesday.

"The weakness of July resulted mainly from the decrease of prices of clothing and footwear and other manufactured products, linked with summer sales and from the seasonal decrease of prices of fresh products," it said.

Costs of clothing and footwear shrunk by 13.6 percent because of summer sales, pulling down the prices of manufactured goods by 2.7 percent, while those of fresh food products were down by 5.3 percent.

However, the price drops were offset by a 1-percent increase in services costs, including transportation and communication prices. Prices of manufactured products grew slightly by 0.2 percent.

Year on year, French consumer prices rose 1.9 percent.

French officials set the country's inflation rate at 1.7 percent for the whole year of 2012.