Energy causes trade deficit to plunge again

The war in Ukraine and soaring energy prices that followed continue to brand the French trade balance. According figures released on Thursday by Customs in July, the deficit reached 14.5 billion euros, against 13.1 billion a month earlier.

Over a rolling three-month period, the method now used by Customs to smooth out occasional hazards, the deterioration is less severe: the trade deficit widens by only 500 million euros and stands at 14 billion euros. Over one year, the deficit now reaches 129.8 billion, setting a new historic record .

Nearly 10 billion energy deficit

Unsurprisingly, the rise in energy prices explains the worsening of the deficit and is reflected in a further increase in imports, which are expressed in value. In July, they continued to rise and reached 63.2 billion euros on average over 3 months. “Like the previous 11 months, this increase is mainly driven by the energy bill,” note Customs. This increased by 0.4 billion euros “in the wake of the increase in imports of electricity and refined oil”, they explain.

An increase in price to be compared with the increase of 0.7 billion in total imports. The energy deficit has now reached 9.9 billion euros. And deteriorates by 0.6 billion between June and July.

The surge in imports comes at a time when French sales abroad are losing momentum. They reached 49.2 billion euros in July, still as a moving average over 3 months, against 49 billion the previous month.

Excluding energy, the deficit has been almost stable for 5 months

Excluding energy, France’s trade balance is virtually stable. A stability that seems to be the rule “for the last 5 months”, according to Customs. It has now reached 6.2 billion euros.

In detail, the capital goods deficit stood at 3.2 billion euros, slightly less than in June, due to a slowdown in imports. That of trade in consumer goods remained stable at 0.8 billion. Finally, the intermediate goods deficit fell very slightly to 2.8 billion.