111 billion euros: This is the amount of goods and services exchanged between France and the United Kingdom in 2022, a significant increase of 42% over the year. And the trade balance is favorable to France. France exports 60 million euros to the United Kingdom, an increase of 49%, while it imports 51 billion euros through the Channel.
In detail, 72 of the 111,000 million euros correspond to the exchange of goods. That is almost two thirds of the volumes between France and Great Britain. The last third corresponds to services, amounting to 39,000 million euros.
In both categories, the volume of products traded exceeds that of 2019, both for French and British exports and imports, 13% more.
Energy trading has more than doubled since 2019
In the space of three years, the most spectacular leap has been in the energy sector. +138% between 2019 and 2022, for an annual total of 6,400 million euros. However, this result hides a great disparity. It is mainly the fruit of British imports. They have more than tripled in three years.
The main explanation is the rise in energy prices, especially strong in the UK last year because of the war in Ukraine. The other element, specifies the barometer, are the temporary stops of certain nuclear power plants in France.
But it is transportation equipment that continues to attract the lion’s share of trade. They are located in this category, specifically, aeronautics and of course the automobile.
The United Kingdom dominates the export of services
By contrast, there has been a significant decline in trade in manufactured goods, such as clothing or furniture. These articles, manufactured in factories in the United Kingdom and France, only represent 9,000 million euros, a decrease of 25%.
Regarding services, the United Kingdom exports more than France (21,000 million euros against 18,000 million euros). All sectors are up compared to the pre-pandemic period, with the exception of transport and tourism. Technology commerce, on the other hand, is on the rise, thanks to the growth of telecommuting and the rollout of 5G. Telecommunications have thus increased British imports in the sector by 67% in three years.
Among the surplus sectors on the French side, we find agriculture. Agricultural exports from France increased more than imports from the United Kingdom. They generated a French trade surplus of €2.3 billion. Even more impressive, the progression of French exports to Great Britain of tobacco and alcohol, to the point of making it the number 1 player in the entire Channel and representing 32% of the market.
Source: BFM TV
