In February 2026, the French trade balance showed a sharp decline of €3.8 billion to reflect a deficit of €5.8 billion. That owes to a significant increase in imports by €2.6 billion and a decrease in exports of only €1.2 billion.
Looking at the details, the increase in imports was driven by higher imports of natural hydrocarbons (€0.8 billion), transport equipment (€0.7 billion), and pharmaceuticals (€0.5 billion), particularly from China.
Meanwhile, the drop in exports came from a marked decrease in electricity exports (-€0.4 billion) and aerospace industry products (-€0.3 billion).
Overall, energy imports increased by €0.6 billion on the month but are surely going to surge even greater in March amid the Middle East conflict. That will recreate the sort of trend in the trade balance that we saw during the Russia-Ukraine conflict. So, just be wary of that in the months ahead.
