A new bounce. French exports of goods reached 439 billion euros in the first three quarters of 2022, an increase of 20% compared to the same period last year, according to a report published on Sunday by Business France.
After a year 2021 in which French exports of goods had “benefited from a post-pandemic rebound” and were “on the rise again”, with an increase of 17% to 501 billion euros, “the growth of exports of goods accelerated” at the beginning of 2022, specifies Business France.
This increase “continued in the first quarter of 2022 to reach 139,400, the highest level in 20 years,” it said.
significant trade deficit
During the first three quarters of 2022, all exporting sectors saw the value of their exports increase, compared to their pre-health crisis level in the same period of 2019.
The traditional French export sectors -agriculture and agri-food (+28%), textiles (+30%), pharmaceuticals, chemicals, perfumes and cosmetics (+24%)-, in particular, “consolidate their level of exports”, according to the balance .
However, high inflation, whether for energy or other goods, is weighing down foreign trade figures, which translates into a historically bad trade deficit in 2022. The French government is thus betting on a negative balance of 156,000 million euros, according to the documents of the finance bill for 2023.
In fact, energy prices have been rising for more than a year, driven in particular by the strong economic recovery that followed the Covid-19 related lockdowns. An accelerated increase since the Russian invasion of the Ukraine, which also put significant pressure on food prices.
The consequent deterioration in the energy balance is the justification put forward by customs for months to explain this rise in the French trade deficit. In September, the 12-month mobile deficit already stood at 149.9 billion euros, compared to 85 billion euros in 2021, an already historic level of deficit.
Source: BFM TV
