Why Is The Gap Between France And Germany?

The French media (www.lefigaro.fr) published a commentary in February 10th to discuss the balance of trade between France and Germany and its causes.

In 2010, Germany gained a surplus of 154 billion 300 million euros, compared with France in the same period.

According to the latest statistics published by the two countries, the gap between France and Germany in foreign trade and exports has become increasingly uneven in recent years. In 2007, the balance of trade between the two countries was as high as 237 billion 800 million euros, the highest peak in history.

Commented that, from the beginning of this century, France and Germany

The report finds that there are many reasons for the uneven balance between France and Germany, but the most important ones are three:

1.35 hour work leads to rising labor costs

France began its 35 hour working week in 2000, which directly led to a rise in the cost of production in French enterprises.

According to the European Bureau of Statistics (Eurostat), from 2000 to 2010, the labor cost in France increased from 24.4 euros to 37.2 euros, while in the same period, the labor cost in Germany increased from only 26.3 euros to 30.2 euros.

2. differences in wage levels

In the past 10 years, Germany has

3. Euro usage

In 2002, the euro area members began to use the euro in an all-round way. As the franc ratio to euro was 6.55, the French products were higher in Euro terms, while in Germany, on the contrary, the cost of using the euro was much better than that of mark.

The report said that apart from the above three factors, there are important differences in the foreign trade structure between France and Germany. Germany pays more attention to the development of markets outside the EU, especially in the emerging economies. In 2010, Germany's foreign trade volume to China increased by 26%.

In 2010, the export volume of France increased by 13.5%, which was similar to that of Global trade. During the same period, the growth rate of German exports increased to 18.5%, significantly higher than that of France.

The reason for that is that in 2010, the total foreign trade volume of France's exports to the European Union and the European Union amounted to 392 billion 500 million euros, while in the same period, Germany exported only 381 billion 200 million euros to the regional markets outside the EU.

The gap between France and Germany in terms of foreign trade exports made the French government deeply disturbed. Especially in 2010, Germany's agricultural food export trade balance first exceeded France, which had always been a big exporter of agricultural food. The French media exclaimed: Germany's sausage exports exceeded French Bordeaux wine.

Recently, the French Ministry of economic and financial affairs said that France must try to keep France's dominant position as a major agricultural food exporter, and will take concrete measures to encourage more French enterprises to participate in 170 food fairs and exhibitions held annually around the world.