Foreign Trade

<!–^~^65|right|^~^–>France is the world’s second largest exporter of services and farm products and fourth largest exporter of goods (principally durables); it had a trade surplus of 104.5 billion francs ($20.9 billion) in 1995. French exports stood at 1,427 billion francs ($285.4 billion) in 1995, 22% of GDP. Imports amounted to 1,322 billion francs ($264.4 billion). These figures show a sharp increase in the surplus in durable goods (over 58 billion francs, $11.6 billion), a 20 billion-franc surplus ($4 billion) in farm products, a surplus of 31 billion francs ($6.2 billion) in agri-foodstuffs, a declining energy bill and a rise of 19% in electricity exports. France’s European Union partners absorb 64% of its trade. The country had a trade surplus of 27 billion francs ($5.4 billion) with the EU in 1995. France’s main customers are Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Belgium and Spain, along with the United States.

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