France battles with neighbours for Chinese business
The country has been slower than Germany and Britain to ratchet up trade with Beijing, but Chinese interest in French aerospace, alcohol, cosmetics and luxury goods is growing
France is at the crux of a European Union-wide battle for business and finance from China. It has been a little slower than Germany and Britain to ratchet up trade with Beijing, but Chinese interest in French aerospace, alcohol, cosmetics and luxury goods is growing. A major priority for the French government in recent years has been balancing out the large gap between French investment in China and vice-versa.
China is the second-biggest goods trading partner outside the EU for France, after the United States. However, France's top trading partners remain other EU countries, some of which it lags in terms of buying from China.
Is Singapore heading for recession?
Nonetheless, HSBC forecasts China will become France's third-largest export customer by 2030.
"France has lagged some other euro zone countries a little in expanding its export trade into emerging markets, but we expect that to gradually change," the bank said in its Global Connections Trade Forecast on France.
France's exports to China were worth US$22.4 billion in 2014 and were dominated by the aerospace sector, according to MIT's Observatory of Economic Complexity. Other major imports included wine and spirits.