PARIS, Feb 10 (Reuters) - French industrial production fell by a milder-than-expected 1.8 percent month-on-month in December after a revised 2.8 percent decline the previous month, data from statistics office INSEE showed on Tuesday.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast a 1.9 percent decline for the euro zone's second biggest economy. The figure for November had originally been reported as a 2.4 percent fall.
The INSEE data showed output of food and agricultural products (up 1.6 percent) and capital goods (up 2.6 percent) both rose, helping to dampen the effects of a sharp fall in production in the automobile sector, which was down 7.7 percent and intermediate goods, which fell 7.6 percent.
The French data follows figures from Germany last week, which showed a record 4.6 percent drop in output in December. (Reporting by James Mackenzie, editing by Mike Peacock)