French households' consumption in goods fell by 0.4 percent in January from a month ago as consumers spent less to buy new cars, official data showed on Wednesday.

Last month, car purchases shrunk by 7.6 percent following a 2.8-percent rise in December as "households might have brought their car purchases forward in anticipation of a tougher bonus-malus from January 1st," French national statistics bureau Insee said in its economic report.

Following high fuel prices, expenditure in energy grew by 2 percent over the period after four successive months of decline while purchases of textile and leather products lost momentum after reporting 2.3 percent-drop in January, Insee added.

French government forecasted inflation rate at 1.7 percent this year down from 2.5 percent in 2011.