Priority is given to foreigners. Promoters of the internationalization of companies hammered home on Tuesday their ambitions for this year consisting of pushing French companies to conquer other markets, on the eve of the publication of a trade deficit close to historic levels. The tenth edition of Bercy France Export, organized at the Ministry of the Economy, was an opportunity to recall “total mobilization” in favor of export development, according to Jérôme Fournel, Bruno Le Maire’s chief of staff, despite the absence of the Minister of Finance from this meeting bringing together businesses and state representatives, and that of a delegate minister due to reshuffles still in progress.
Buoyed by its results last year, France intends to gain momentum this year. “More than 13,200 companies were supported in 2023”, an increase of 28% over one year, rejoiced the general director of Business France Laurent Saint-Martin, under the banner of Team France Export (TFE), a one-stop shop for companies that are internationalizing.
“It was far from won,” recalled the leader after two years of pandemic which put a sudden brake on trade and encouraged withdrawal. A member of the TFE with BPI France and the Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Business France helped support 5,000 companies at international trade fairs last year, and 2,500 benefited from a subsidy increased to 30% of their costs to participate in one of the France pavilions abroad.
These results were favored by the adoption of the “Dare to export” plan in September, a system presented by the Minister for Foreign Trade, Olivier Becht, accompanied by a budget of 125 million euros to encourage the desire to foreign companies. For its promoters, this plan must further gain momentum because several of its provisions only come into force this year, like Territorial Business Volunteering (VTE), hiring assistance, personalized support of 1000 companies winning the France 2030 system, or a simplification of certain administrative rules.
With these measures and others, the government is betting on reaching the milestone of 200,000 exporting companies by 2030, where the level still remains today around the 150,000 mark. However, these efforts are still slow to materialize clearly in French foreign trade statistics despite the wishes of its promoters. The figures for the year 2023 expected on Wednesday should show a deficit of around 100 billion euros.
This will be the second highest deficit in history since 2022 and the 164 billion recorded then, against a backdrop of explosion in the prices of imported energy after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. The evolution of French exports will be particularly scrutinized by the players present at Bercy France Export, after having posted a decline of 0.8% in the first half. For the moment, the latter prefer to see the glass half full on the foreign trade front, in chronic deficit for more than twenty years: its contribution to the growth of French GDP is positive, argues a source at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Economy, and in 2022 France was the fifth world exporter of goods and services. “We expect the 2023 results to confirm this position,” added this source.