France's Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard. — Bloomberg
PARIS: France is racing to forge a strategy to protect the country’s food industries against growing imports and to bolster exports, as it faces the prospect of the first agricultural trade deficit in almost half a century.
The French government intends to draft a national plan in mid-2026, Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard said on Monday.
She also wants to set up a “sovereign fund” for the industry, as well as an inspection force to guarantee that all imported goods respect European Union standards.
“The agricultural war threatens us a little more each day, and it is time to act,” Genevard said during a visit to a huge wholesale food market in Rungis, just south of Paris.
The food industry faces mounting challenges, from climate change to harmful policies pursued by Russia, the European Union (EU), the United States and China, she said.
Historically Europe’s biggest farmer, France has increasingly been importing foods while its exports have slumped 20% since 2015.
With dwindling sales of its famed wines and grains exports that have traditionally fed nations across the globe, the country may this year see the first deficit in its agriculture trade balance since 1977, Genevard said.
That trade balance was €5.92bil (US$6.89bil) in 2024, a 43% decline compared with 2015, according to data from the National Centre for the Promotion of Agricultural and Food Products.
Further alarming officials, in the first eight months of this year the balance was just €350mil, a 93% plunge from €4.5bil in the same period of 2024.
The declines have helped to fuel demonstrations, with farmers holding street protests this year, following actions last year by powerful farming unions that blockaded cities over cheap imports.
Those events have added to the political pressures on President Emmanuel Macron, who has struggled with a series of governmental collapses amid opposition to unpopular policies including pension reform.
French farmers have denounced what they see as unfair global competition stemming from international trade deals, including US tariffs and strict EU regulations.
They particularly want to block an EU free trade deal with South American nations that they said failed to guarantee compliance with standards, including on pesticides.
“If the European Commission does not act voluntarily in the coming weeks, be assured that I will myself ban imports of products containing substances banned in Europe, as EU law permits me to do,” said Genevard.
Effective controls are needed and the minister is advocating the creation of an imported-goods “inspection brigade”, integrated into a European force overseeing all ports on the continent.
“I cannot resign myself to the fact that one out of every two chickens we consume, one out of every three fruits and vegetables, 10% of our flour, 60% of our honey, 80% of our fishery products and 65% of the pasta we eat are now imported,” Genevard said in a statement before her speech. — Bloomberg
