PARIS (Reuters) -France may post its first annual trade deficit for food and farm goods in nearly 50 years as new tariffs on wine exports and high prices for cocoa and coffee imports add to a long-term decline in competitiveness, sector representatives said.
The agri-food sector has been one of France’s main export earners, drawing on the biggest agricultural production base in the European Union. But stiffening competition within and outside the EU has eroded France’s position, fuelling farmer hostility to trade agreements like that proposed with the Mercosur bloc of South American countries.
After the country’s surplus in food and farm products dropped last year to its lowest since the 1980s at 4.9 billion euros ($5.67 billion) following a poor grain harvest, it has declined further in 2025, showing a cumulative negative balance of 351 million euros for January-September, according to customs data presented by the French Agriculture Ministry.
“It’s a pretty big shock to see how foreign trade has dwindled month by month this year,” said Thierry Pouch, economist at France’s association of chambers of agriculture, adding France had shown an agri-food surplus since 1978.
“We should learn from certain countries like Spain. We have a battle to lead on agri-food trade,” he told a conference organised by agri-food export association CNPA on Tuesday.
HARVEST REVIVAL FAILS TO HALT DEFICIT
A much improved harvest this year has helped revive cereal exports since the summer, though that was not enough to prevent France from posting an agri-food trade deficit for September.
While some headwinds, such as a price spike for imported cocoa and coffee or slowing wine and spirit exports due to U.S. and Chinese tariffs, may prove temporary, French producers worry they have lost ground due to red tape and high costs.
At the same time, France has scope to improve its export approach, notably compared with neighbours such as Spain and Italy that have actively marketed their food offerings abroad, said Jean-Paul Torris, international adviser at food industry association ANIA.
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(Reporting by Gus TrompizEditing by Rod Nickel)
