In March, French industrial production surprised on the downside of expectations. On a monthly basis, industrial production dropped by 1.4% M/M, while a softer decline was expected (-0.5% M/M) and the previous figure was downwardly revised from -0.5% M/M to -0.9% M/M. Looking at the details, manufacturing plunged by 1.1% M/M and construction fell by 0.3% M/M, while energy rose by 0.6% M/M. Also in Italy, industrial production came out weaker than expected in March. On a monthly basis, industrial production plunged by 4.6%M/M, while the consensus was looking for a decline by 2.0% M/M. The plunge was led by a 4.7% M/M contraction in manufacturing, while mining and carrying rose by 5.4% M/M. These data might be a bit disappointing after the upward surprise in German industrial production and raises expectations that also euro zone industrial production may have remained weak in March.