Foreign trade: “Our balance deficit hides a paradox: French exports are doing better and better”

dSince the days of French Indochina, the Vietnamese have been crazy about sticks. So much so that “banh mi”, a type of ham and butter with a Vietnamese sauce, has become a favorite snack of busy city dwellers in Ho Chi Minh City or Hanoi. They are not the only ones who appreciate the inimitable crust of Parisian bread. French bakers and pastry chefs have never sold so much abroad.

According to the latest report by Business France, which is responsible for the promotion of French exports, overseas sales in this sector increased by 32% between 2016 and 2021, thus largely erasing the dark vintage of 2020. with a 149% increase in the United States. and in China 856%. The famous butter brand Echiré, which works wonders on baguettes, also has its butter house in Tokyo.

If we only look at the darkness of our trade balance, which should fall again this year to 150 billion euros, due to the energy tax, we cannot see this amazing paradox: French exports are doing better and better. In the first nine months of 2022 alone, customs figures indicate a 20% increase compared to 2021, with 440 billion euros in three quarters, well above the pre-pandemic figure.

Good performance of SMEs

Even more astonishing, given the prevailing gloom, there have never been so many French exporters in twenty years, almost 140,000. SMEs and intermediary companies represent more than 99% of the troops but only 48% of the value. Large companies such as Airbus or LVMH, traditional locomotives, account for only 0.5% of exporters, but weigh 52% of the value.

This good performance of French exports, particularly in SMEs in the food industry (+28%), textiles (+30%) and cosmetics (+24%), shows that, beyond mere politics, French industry is recovering. Strength, especially in the key area of ​​SMEs, a historical weakness in France.

As such, it confirms the relevance of the massive aid granted in 2020 and 2021 and the effective support of Bpifrance, which saved a number of modest businesses from collapse. “Whatever it takes” was helpful. Now remains the hardest part of sustaining and strengthening this spectacular recovery: addressing labor shortages and containing inflation. The industrial reconquest is only in its infancy.