France's trade deficit widened sharply in October, hit by a fall in exports to Germany and Britain and a rise in imports of industrial goods, customs office data showed today.
The trade deficit rose to €4.3 billion in October from an upwardly revised €2.8 billion in September, easily exceeding analyst expectations for a shortfall of €2.2 billion.
September's deficit had previously been reported as €1.7 billion.
Imports hit €32.6 billion during the month, up from a revised €31.4 billion in September, while exports slipped back to 28.260 billion euros from €28.6 billion previously.
"French exports are now 7.1 per cent lower than they were last July," said Nicolas Bouzou, economist at Asteres.
"Foreign demand to French businesses thus remains more than fragile," he said.
The figures contrasted with German data released today, which showed the trade surplus rising to a one-year high of €9.8 billion, fuelled by strong exports.
The French data showed exports to neighbouring Germany fell to €4.1 billion, down from €4.1 billion in September. Exports to Britain, another key market, also fell, to just over €2 billion.
"The trade deficit is unsurprising given we've got imports increasing which suggests there is a slight rebound in industry," said Alexander Law, economist at Xerfi.
"And second you've got to look at the main export markets, Spain and the UK, and there the economies are still extremely grim...Germany is doing OK but if you look at the latest data...it is not brilliant."
Exports of clothing, cosmetics and electronic goods fell and imports of those goods rose at a marked pace, suggesting French companies are struggling to make their goods competitive.
Exports of transport equipment and pharmaceuticals rose. Both segments are being buoyed by temporary factors such as car scrappage schemes and sales of vaccines.
Sales of Airbus planes rose to 24 from 22 in September but the value fell to €1.1 billion from €1.3 billion.
Executives from EADS, the parent company of Airbus, have repeatedly complained that a strong euro is hurting business, a message that has also been heard from French officials.
Reuters