A new Bloomberg report this week revealed that according to industry data, there was a 13% year over year drop in the price of road diesel in France for September.

The falling demand for the fuel at the national level indicates France’s manufacturing activity has begun to slow, and now the industrial sector requires less diesel fuel, which is vital to the sector’s manufacturing, as well as for the transport of goods it produces.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Emma Howsham, a research analyst at the Wood Mackenzie consultancy, said, “The sharp decline in French road transport diesel demand reflects this increasing pressure on the French economy and slowdown in industrial activity and transportation of goods.”

French economic growth has slowed recently to meager rates. Data from the Bank of France pointed to the third quarter seeing only 0.1% growth in the economy. In the three moths through September, output was only up by 0.1%, compared to 0.5% of growth which was seen in the previous quarter.

The latest data from S&P Global showed that the nation’s purchasing managers’ index (PMI) a measure of the health of an economy, reached its lowest level since May of 2020.

The decline in the demand for diesel is not just occurring in France. Germany, Spain, and Italy are all also showing declines in diesel sales for September compared to the same month one year ago.

Howsham said that throughout the OECD countries of Europe, demand for diesel-type fuels had declined by 160,000 barrels per day from January through September, compared to the same period one year prior, for a decline of roughly 3%.

A similar report was just released by the International Energy Agency (IEA), which said consumption of diesel-type fuels in Europe was down by 260,000 barrels per day in the previous quarter, compared to one year earlier.

The IEA’s monthly Oil Market Report noted the agency was predicting there would be a further decline in the demand for diesel in the region of about 150,000 barrels per day, in both 2023 and 2024.