After a particularly difficult year in 2020 for exporting companies, with a trade deficit of 65.2 billion euros and a 16% drop in exports, the government wants to reverse the trend and has released a 250 million euro budget for this purpose.
Public assistance for exporting companies
According to Christophe Lecourtier, Managing Director of Business France, the organization responsible for helping French companies export and supporting foreign investors in France, exporting has become a "major national cause".
To support the export development of French companies, several public measures were put in place as soon as the health crisis broke out.
Firstly, Team France Export, which brings together all the public players involved in supporting exports (regions, the French government, Business France, Chambers of Commerce and Industry and BPI France), has created the Chèques Relance Export for SMEs and ETIs.
These vouchers cover 50% of the cost of international business support services, specifically sales and prospecting expenses. This scheme can be combined with regional grants to cover up to 80% of expenses.
In addition, the prospecting insurance provided by Bpifrance, which provides cash support for prospecting foreign markets, has been strengthened and now enables us to support smaller companies with more modest projects. Prospecting insurance currently in force has also been extended by one year.
Volontariat International en Entreprise (VIE), which involves sending a young person aged between 18 and 28 on an overseas assignment for 6 months to 2 years, is also receiving special attention: the public authorities have set up VIE Relance Vouchers worth 5,000 euros to create a total of 3,000 new VIE assignments.
Last but not least, Business France has created digital showcases acting as digital trade fairs in 3 sectors in which France is renowned for its exports:
- wines and spirits,
- cosmetics
- and food processing.
Slight decline in the number of exporting companies
Despite the difficulties that the health crisis has caused for exports for almost a year, the number of exporting companies fell only slightly in 2020. 128,000 French companies continued to sell their products internationally, and according to Christophe Lecourtier, the pre-crisis level should be reached as early as the second quarter of 2021.
However, the euro's effective exchange rate has risen by 6% since the start of the health crisis, which could jeopardize the international competitiveness of French companies.
What's more, as Christophe Lecourtier declared on Europe 1 on February 5, 2021, "our flagship exports" - aeronautics and automobiles - have been hit. Exports in the aeronautics sector are down by 30 billion euros in 2020. This situation looks set to continue, with Airbus having received no orders as of January 2021.
Despite the determination of the public authorities, some export sectors will take longer to recover from the health crisis.