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Introduction

France is the world’s number four economic power in terms of GDP. The country’s assets are varied and include its transport and telecommunications sectors, agri-foodstuffs and pharmaceutical industries along with banking, insurance, tourism and the traditional luxury products (leather goods, ready-to-wear fashion, perfumes, fine wines and spirits, etc.).

Agriculture

Farms: 730,000
Farmers/farm workers: 910,000
Utilized agricultural area: 30,139,000 hectares

Principal agricultural products in France:

• Sugar beet: 1st in the EU, 2nd in the world (29 million tonnes)
• Wine: 2nd in the world, 2nd in the EU (5.3 million tonnes)
  

Industry

Leading industrial sectors in France :

• Construction and civil engineering. Annual production : 797 billion francs ($159.4 billion). Four French groups (Bouygues, SGE, Eiffage and GTM-Entrepose) rank among the top ten in European construction, with an annual turnover of 158 billion francs ($31.6 billion).

Research & Development

National R & D expenditure amounts to 190 billion francs ($38 billion) i.e. 2.5% of GDP.

The public sector finances 51% of it and is responsible for operating (building maintenance, salaries, laboratory equipment) the major national research centres, which include the CNRS (all fields), INSERM (medicine), INRA (agronomy), etc..