Since February 2024, the French trade balance has improved after record years in 2022 and 2023. However, this positive dynamic seems to be slowing down.
France's trade deficit widened to 8.1 billion euros in September. This is the result of a clear increase in the value of imports in France, while that of exports has decreased. Imports increased by 500 million euros to stand at 57 billion euros while exports fell by 200 million euros for a total of 48.9 billion euros, details a customs press release published this Friday, November 8. This is the second consecutive month of increase in the trade deficit, which reached 6.7 billion euros in July and 7.4 billion euros in August.
The French trade deficit has been on a downward trend in recent months, after having recorded historic records over the whole of 2022 and 2023. The results are therefore more positive when we look over twelve months. The French cumulative deficit thus continued to reduce, as has been the case since February. But the pace of this reduction has nevertheless slowed down and the deficit stood at 82.4 billion euros over the last twelve months.
In detail, France's energy balance deteriorated by 100 million euros in September “after several months of continuous improvement”, to reach 4.5 billion euros. This decline is caused by imports which increase slightly while exports remain stable, customs explain. The deterioration of this balance, excluding energy, continued, to 5.2 billion euros, whereas it was 4.6 billion euros the previous month. This is mainly the result of the increase in the gap between the import and export of manufactured products. According to data from the Banque de France, the current transactions deficit (exchange of goods, services or even income transfers with other countries, editor's note) also reached 2.1 billion euros in September while the deficit was 1.2 billion euros in August.
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