It is no longer a question of whether we will break a record this year: that is a given. The real question is how big this record will be. France recorded a new surge in its foreign trade deficit. An additional hole close to 17 billion euros in September and the bill is getting heavier each month.
The trade balance is easily defined: it is the difference between the amount of our exports and that of our imports. When we export our products abroad, we bring in money. When we import goods, we spend money. The balance is therefore in deficit when we import more goods than we export. In this regard, the figures published by Customs are impressive. The deficit for September amounts to 16.8 billion euros, which comes on top of the deficits of the previous months.
In this month of November, cumulated since January, we reach the 150 billion euros deficit. For comparison, in 2021 our already high trade balance deficit was €85 billion. A year later, with 150 billion as we speak, the government does not hide it : the situation will deteriorate further by the end of December. The documents available at the Ministry of the Economy amount to at least 156 billion, which will most likely be the hole at the end of the year.
The main reason is the marked increase in the energy bill. The latter has increased almost fivefold since 2020. However, we buy our oil in dollars, and as in recent months the greenback has been higher than the euro, we have largely lost on the exchange. If we do not take into account the impact of rising energy prices, the Minister of Foreign Trade, Olivier Becht, recently indicated on franceinfo that our trade deficit would not worsen this year.
A situation that is all the more regrettable since a few years ago, France was a net exporter of electricity thanks to its nuclear power. We know the rest. On the positive side, however: our agricultural exports recorded a surplus (2.2 billion euros), thanks in particular to wheat exports in the third quarter. This is the consequence of the situation in Ukraine. France exports more agricultural products to its partners than it imports. Our wheat has replaced our electricity.