France’s foreign trade deficit shrank by 5.2 billion euros (5.7 billion U.S. dollars) to 24.6 billion euros (26.9 billion dollars) in the second quarter of 2023, thanks to an increase in exports of transport equipment and the decline of energy prices, the French Customs announced on Tuesday.
In its quarterly report, the agency said that exports in the second quarter went up by 2.3 percent from the first quarter to 155 billion euros (169.8 billion dollars).
Despite the slowdown in energy and agricultural goods exports, exports of transport equipment, especially aeronautical and space construction products, jumped in the quarter, it said.
Imports decreased by 0.9 percent to 179.6 billion euros (196.7 billion dollars), owing much to a slump in energy imports, while imports of manufactured products increased slightly, mostly driven by pharmaceutical products.
Although France’s foreign trade deficit started to narrow since the fourth quarter of 2022, statistics show that the status quo is still worse than the pre-COVID levels, according to the French Customs.
