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France lowers trade gap by 10 pct in 2014

Xinhua, February 6, 2015 Adjust font size:

France, one of the eurozone's main powerhouses, saw a narrowed trade deficit in 2014 at 53.8 billion euros (about 61.9 billion U.S. dollars), French State Secretary for Foreign Trade Mathias Fekl said on Friday, calling for more efforts to haunt further lucrative business opportunities in booming Asian markets.

Compared with 2013 performance, the trade gap, for the third consecutive year, lowered by 7 billion euros thanks to falling energy purchases due to decline in oil prices and warm temperatures.

Commenting on the figure, the State Secretary said France's export registered positive trend, mainly due to Airbus whose sales income totalled 23.6 billion euros while food and pharmaceutical lost momentum in the previous year against 2013 data.

In 2014, French exports rose by 0.1 percent while imports decreased by 1.3 percent, customs figures showed.

France's export traditionally depends on markets of Europe and some emerging countries, and was primarily driven by the food, pharmaceutical and aerospace industries.

Over the period, France reported rising sales outside Europe, especially in China and South Korea. It also improved the position of its products in neighbor European markets which account for 60 percent of France's total trade exchange.

"These results show the resilience of French exports in an international context that remains difficult," said Fekl, noting the "need to develop and find new opportunities in the most dynamic markets that are located on the Asian continent."

"I continue, with the government, the effort to adapt French export system to the changes of global economy, with particular attention to small and medium firms to help them in their international development," he added in a press release. Endit