Paris - France had a record trade deficit for September, pointing to a record for the year and a grim outlook in 2009, official data showed on Friday a day after the government slashed the economic growth forecast for next year.
The trade deficit rose to a record €6.25bn in September from a shortfall of €5.37bn in August as global demand slowed, customs data showed.
"The month of September was not good," said Junior Foreign Trade Minister Anne-Marie Idrac.
"The risk of a record trade deficit (for 2008)... is big, given the outlook, at best mediocre, which we are seeing for demand from our main customers," said Idrac.
The "most striking feature of the past few months has been the slump in demand from our main European partners," she said.
"At the same time, wherever there is growth, things continue to be not too bad, in Russia for example."
Customs figures showed that in September, imports rose to €40.54bn from €40.45bn in August but exports fell to €34.29bn from €35.08bn.
The ratio of exports to imports was 84.58%, the worst ever for a single month.
For the nine months to September, the cumulative trade deficit was €40.9bn, up some €13bn euros from the same period a year earlier as soaring oil prices pushed up the import bill.
"We have to face up to the truth - the trade figures for September are very bad and send a very negative message on the outlook for the next few months," said Nicolas Bouzou of the Asteres research house.
"The world (financial) crisis will from now on have a very clear impact on our foreign trade," Bouzou said.
Analysts said all of France's main markets - in Europe, the United States and even the emerging economies - were all weakening as the global financial crisis undercut demand sharply.
France was expecting a record trade deficit this year of €49.8bn, falling slightly in 2009 to €49bn, according to the government.
But Idrac, referring to a sharp downgrade on Thursday of French growth prospects, said that this forecast would also have to be revised.
On Thursday, Economy and Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said that the French economy, the second-biggest in the eurozone after the German economy, would grow by just 0.2%-0.5% next year instead of the 1.0% previously predicted.
Lagarde also cut the forecast for 2010 to 2.0% from 2.5% as the global financial crisis saps demand.
And the International Monetary Fund downgraded its growth forecasts sharply too, seeing the world economy moving into recession next year.
Idrac said the expected positive impact on the trade balance of a sharp fall in the price of oil since the middle of July had been offset by a slowing of economic activity.
"We are beginning to see in September an easing of the oil bill but not yet fully because there is a time lag, notably for gas," the minister said.
"Exports are suffering from a new and strong fall of deliveries of vehicles and auto parts to Spain and Britain," the finance ministry said on its website.
"Sales of semi-finished products (such as steel) to these two markets, and also to Italy, also fell sharply."
The rise in imports was driven by the aerospace industry.
- AFP