France’s Top 10 Exports

The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in French global
shipments during 2018. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in
terms of overall exports from France.
At the more detailed Harmonized Tariff System code level, France’s most valuable exported
products are large airplanes followed by therapeutic or prophylactic drugs and medicines then
motor cars.
1. Machinery including computers: US$67.7 billion (11.9% of total exports)
2. Vehicles: $56.5 billion (9.9%)
3. Aircraft, spacecraft: $51.8 billion (9.1%)
4. Electrical machinery, equipment: $44.9 billion (7.9%)
5. Pharmaceuticals: $33.8 billion (6%)
6. Plastics, plastic articles: $22.6 billion (4%)
7. Perfumes, cosmetics: $19.7 billion (3.5%)
8. Beverages, spirits, vinegar: $19.4 billion (3.4%)
9. Mineral fuels including oil: $18.7 billion (3.3%)
10. Optical, technical, medical apparatus: $16.9 billion (3%)
France’s top 10 export categories accounted for over three-fifths (61.9%) of the overall value of
its global shipments. Among the 10 largest product categories, mineral fuels including oil was
the fastest-growing via its 27.5% uptick from 2017 to 2018.
In second place was the machinery including computers category up by 11.3%. Exports under
the perfumes and cosmetics category rose by 10.9% year over year, trailed by vehicles’ 10.7%
appreciation.
Aircraft and spacecraft was France’s slowest-growing top export category thanks to its 0.7%
uptick from 2017 to 2018.

Advantages
The following types of French product shipments represent positive net exports or
a trade balance surplus. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s
total exports minus the value of its total imports.

In a nutshell, net exports represent the amount by which foreign spending on a home
country’s goods or services exceeds or lags the home country’s spending on foreign
goods or services.

1. Aircraft, spacecraft: US$30.8 billion (Up by 11.7% since 2017)

2. Beverages, spirits, vinegar: $14.6 billion (Up by 5.1%)
 3. Perfumes, cosmetics: $13.4 billion (Up by 12.4%)
4. Pharmaceuticals: $8.6 billion (Up by 4.1%)
5. Cereals: $6.3 billion (Up by 39%)
6. Other chemical goods: $3.7 billion (Up by 19.9%)
7. Leather/animal gut articles: $3.5 billion (Up by 26.1%)
8. Ships, boats: $2.7 billion (Up by 123%)
9. Dairy, eggs, honey: $2.5 billion (Down by -7.2%)
10. Iron, steel: $2.4 billion (Up by 0.8%)

France has highly positive net exports in the international trade of aerospace products.
In turn, these cashflows indicate France’s strong competitive advantages under the
aircraft and spacecraft product category.

Culture of French Food

What is it about French food that makes it so celebrated? Is it really so mind-blowingly
delicious? In truth, most French cuisine enthusiasts don’t merely cherish the taste of French
food, but the culture that embodies it.
In France, food is sacred. When preparing a dish, the freshest, best quality ingredients one can
afford are chosen. Before anyone eats a bite, the table is laid with care, even if it’s just a simple
lunch. During the meal, people put away their phones and no one watches the clock. Eating is a
celebration of both the food before you and the company around you. It is this reverence for
food that many lovers of French cuisine value as much as the food itself.

 Three Square Meals a Day

The pace of the day is set around meal times, comprising a light breakfast followed by a three-
course lunch and a similarly substantial dinner.
At home, French dining etiquette connected to meals is less formal than you may think. Most of
all, it is important to relax and gather round a table to eat and talk. The French don't approve of
grazing, scrounging around in the fridge, grabbing a snack on the go, or standing over the sink
to munch on an apple. Dropping coins into a vending machine that dispenses candy bars,
potato chips, and soda isn't a viable option in the accepted French way of life.

 French Markets
Every French food journey begins at the market. Most cities and large towns feature a market
at least twice a week, sometimes every day. Smaller towns and villages have a market once a
week. Some of these markets date back for centuries: one, on the Ile de Ré in western France,
boasts that the market has been in existence since the 14th century. In Paris, the Marché des
Enfants Rouges dates from 1628.
A good French market has virtually everything one needs to prepare the meal of your choice:
butchers, fish mongers, cheese vendors, produce farmers, producers of local specialties, such as
hone or olives.
Naturally, people have their favorite markets and favorite vendors. It’s not unusual to see a
long queue, some 15-people deep, for a certain fromagier (cheese-maker), while another
cheese vendor a few stalls down has only a few customers. The French take quality very
seriously. They scrutinize the offerings carefully and ask questions about their intended
purchase before buying.

What Are Typical French Meals Like?

For the most part, there is no “typical” French meal. Although people often use the broad label
“French cuisine” to describe French food, most French dishes are region-based and thus vary
depending on where you are located. The main exception is breakfast foods.
For breakfast, the French often eat tartine: a slice of bread, usually a baguette, smothered with
a fruity jam. This is sometimes accompanied by yogurt and a croissant, and almost always
accompanied by coffee, hot chocolate or orange juice. On weekends, it’s common to pick up
freshly-made viennoiserie from the bakery: croissants, pain au chocolat (chocolate croissants),
pain aux raisins and more.
Lunchtime meals vary by region. But one thing that typifies the French lunch is its length. A few
decades ago, lunches were akin to mini-dinners, lasting for hours and served with wine. These
days, French lunches are shorter, but are still leisurely sit-down affairs that last about an hour. 
True, in some big cities like Paris, a few people may commit the sacrilege of hastily eating a
sandwich. But for the majority of French people, lunch is a highly valued moment to take a
break from work and socialize with peers and friends over good food.
Once again, a typical French dinner depends on the region. However, the structure of a basic
French dinner tends to be unvarying. A four-course meal is served as follows: entrée (the
appetizer), plat (main course), fromage (cheese) and dessert. Sometimes there is also a salad
course, which would follow the main course. If both fish and a meat course are being served,
the fish would come before the meat.
Apéritifs and digestifs usually bookend French dinners. The apéritif occurs at the very start of
the meal. Alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks are served along with small appetizers, such as
nuts or olives, to stimulate your appetite. By contrast, the digestif happens at the very end of
the meal. Guests are served drinks with a high alcohol percentage, such as whiskey, bourbon or
a liqueur, to aid digestion.
French Regional Foods
To truly get to know “French food,” you have to know the regions. Despite the hoity-toity
reputation that many French dishes have, most have humble origins – not created for kings, but
for farmers and labourers. Now-famous regional specialties were largely based on the local
products that were available at that time. That’s why you’ll find plenty of apple-based and
dairy-heavy dishes in Normandy, a region rolling in apple orchards and dairy farms. In Provence,
the cuisine features the olive oil that comes from the olive groves of the region.
Let’s take a look at the cuisines from some of France’s most popular food regions.

 Lyonnaise Cuisine
Lyon, France’s third largest city, is the natural place to begin an examination of French food.
The city is so renowned for its outstanding cuisine that it’s referred to as “the gastronomic
capital of the world”. Home to nearly 2,000 restaurants, Lyon has produced some of France’s
most famous and innovative chefs, including the legendary Paul Bocuse, who
popularised nouvelle cuisine.
Traditional Lyonnaise cuisine is hearty, stick-to-your-bones fare that should be avoided by
vegetarians or anyone who prefers eating light. The cuisine often features pork (in every
permutation, from snout to feet), chicken and duck (particularly the livers) and offal from a
variety of animals. The adventurous eater will enjoy dishes such as salade de foies des
volailles (salad with pan-seared chicken liver), tête de veau (poached calf brains), or tripes à la
Lyonnaise (tripe fried with onions and garlic).
The less adventurous among us will go crazy for quenelles de brochet, a delicious fish dumpling
covered in a creamy lobster sauce. Salad Lyonnaise (green salad with bacon and poached eggs)
is also a great choice, as popular, as is fonds d’artichaut et foie gras (artichoke hearts with foie
gras).  If you want to sound more adventurous than you are, try cervelles de canut. Although
this translates as “silk worker’s brains,” it’s really just fromage blanc (the French version of sour
cream) with shallots and herbs.
When in Lyon, be sure to eat traditional food in a bouchon. A bouchon is a tavern-style
restaurant that once served the silk workers that populated the city in the 16th and 17th
centuries. While the city has many excellent bouchons, the Comptoir Abel has the reputation of
being the most authentic–it’s been serving up meals since 1928.

 Provencal Cuisine
In contrast to the heavy fare of Lyon, in Provence food seems feather light. Provence is a region
in the south of France, known for its lavender fields and olive groves. The cuisine is distinctly
Mediterranean, featuring plenty of fish, vegetables, olive oil, garlic and herbs.
The region’s most famous dish is probably bouillabaisse, a fish stew that comes from Marseille.
Coming in second for best-known is likely ratatouille, a vegetable casserole made of tomatoes,
zucchini, aubergines, onions, peppers, garlic and a healthy dose of olive oil.  Also popular
is petite farcie – assorted vegetables, from tomatoes to peppers, stuff with minced meat. One
of the heartier local dishes is daube provençal, a beef marinated in red wine with onions, garlic
and herbs, and served over pasta.
Even in Provence, dishes can be narrowed down to a precise origin. You’ll often see certain
foods labelled “Provençal”, but they’re actually Niçoise–from the city of Nice. Typical examples
of Niçoise food is socca, a chickpea pancake, pissalidière, an onion tart and, of course, salad
Nicoise–a salad primarily made of tomatoes, tuna (or anchovies), hard-boiled eggs, and onions.
Other ingredients, such as potatoes or string beans, may also be included, but will inevitably
upset some purists.

 Normandy/Brittany Cuisine
On France’s northwestern coast, you’ll find the regions of Normandy and Brittany. Each have
their distinctive dishes, but being so close to the ocean, both are known for having excellent
and huge variety of seafood and shellfish. Beyond seafood, you’ll find plenty of apples in
Normand cuisine and products, such as Poulet Vallée d’Auge, chicken roasted with apples, Tarte
aux Pommes (apple tart), and Calvados, an apple brandy. Normandy, dairy country, is also
known for its excellent cheeses, most notably the famed Camembert.
Brittany best stands out for its crêpes. Savory crêpes are typically known as galettes. These are
made with buckwheat flour and are commonly served with eggs, ham, and cheese (although
fillings can run the gamut of ingredients). Sweet crepes are often slathered in salted caramel, or
chocolate, or simply sprinkled with butter and sugar.

 Other Types of Regional French Cuisine

Writing about all the regional cuisines of France could fill a book. In Burgundy, you’ve got  boeuf
bourguignon, a rich beef stew cooked for hours in red wine. From the Alsace in eastern France,
comes cuisine with a distinctly German touch, including choucroûte garnie (sauerkraut with
boiled potatoes and sausage), flammekueche (a savory thin-crust tart with cheese, onions and
bacon) and bäckeoffe (a casserole made with assorted meats, potatoes and leeks).
In the southwest, expect lots of spiciness from Basque country cuisine. Here, dishes tend to be
enhanced with red Espelette peppers. Try the Omelette piperade, a tarte-like omelette filled
with tomatoes, onion, espelette peppers, olive oil and garlic.
Top 5 Things About Daily Life in France
1. French Baguettes:
Buying fresh bread is essential to daily life in France. Everyone, and I mean everyone, buys
‘du pain’ every day. Whether they have it with butter and jam in the morning for breakfast or
buy it to accompany lunch or dinner, the French eat lots of bread. French baguettes are made
without preservatives and cost about one euro each, making them one of the best bargains in
all of France. In addition, going to the ‘boulangerie’ (bakery) anywhere in France is often a
social occasion, whether it means running into your neighbors or having a brief chat with the
‘boulanger’ or ‘boulangère’.
2. FRENCH MANNERS:
The French place a high value on manners and etiquette, particularly verbal etiquette. It’s a
daily verbal dance to interact in French society whether you’re doing your baguette shopping or
attending a cocktail party. For travelers to France, verbal manners are a daily must even if it’s
just for a few days or for a longer living experience. And everyone, no matter their level of
French, can master the basic tenets. Whenever you interact with someone in France, it’s vital to
follow the following relationship protocols:

 Make positive eye contact

 Say ‘bonjour’ (hello) to open the relationship or interaction
 Be liberal with ‘Monsieur’ and ‘Madame’
 Of course, use ‘s’il vous plaît‘ (please) and ‘merci’ (thank you) often
 Say ‘au revoir’ to close the interaction
And it goes without saying that a spirit of good will even if you are met with a welcoming
smile or a stone face will go a long way in France!

3. FRENCH FOOD MARKETS:

The outdoor food markets in France are an impossibly beautiful combination of great
culinary ingredients, stunning colors and textures, amazing arrays of choices, dazzling displays,
and soul-satisfying camaraderie among shoppers and vendors. And ‘les marchés’ happen day in
and day out, week after week, month after month, year after year. It’s a daily food ‘festival’ that
turns ho-hum grocery shopping into a sensory extravaganza. And it’s a French social experience
as people from all walks of life rub elbows in search of the next good meal.
4. A Café Society
As France would not be France without its outdoor food markets, the country would not be
the same without its cafés. It’s the daily French gathering place par excellence where you can
have a coffee or a glass of wine or a (usually) simple meal. You can sit for as long as you like –
people watching is a great French café pastime. And the table is your ‘real estate’ in Paris or
wherever you happen to be, as long as you’re a paying customer of course.
Join the locals when you grab a great seat for more people-watching from a table at a
sidewalk café. Order coffee, a lemonade (citron pressé), a carafe of wine, or a sparkling water.
The art of passing time lingering in a French café, whether in conversation or alone with a
newspaper, is what lazy French days have been made of for centuries.
Nowhere does "café society" better than Paris where thousands of neighborhood cafés are
central to the ebb and flow of authentic French joie de vivre.

5. FRENCH CHURCH BELLS:

One of my most favorite things about daily life in France is the bells. In almost every city,
town and village where there’s a church, the bells ring every day on the hour or more during
the day. The Courances village church also rings out the Angelus at 8am, 12noon and 7pm,
giving off a chorus of bell tones for a good two to three minutes.
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https://frenchaffaires.com/the-top-5-things-about-daily-life-in-france/.

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http://www.worldstopexports.com/frances-top-10-exports/.