Competitive Trade Analysis – Agri-food and seafood trends in France

Trade overview

France is a net exporter of agri-food and seafood products. In 2019, France's agri-food and seafood trade surplus was Can$13.2 billion with imports valued at Can$84.9 billion, and Can$98.1 billion in exports. France's agri-food and seafood imports increased at a CAGR of 3.9% from 2015 to 2019. In 2019, Canada had an agri-food and seafood trade deficit of Can$695.0 million with France.

France's top agri-food and seafood imports in 2019 were coffee (4.3%), bread, pastry, cakes and biscuits (3.7%), chocolate (3.4%), cheese and curd (3.0%) and fish fillets (2.5%) in 2019. Key supplying countries were Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany and Italy. Canada ranks twenty-second among 243 supplying countries to France, and has seen some fluctuation in market share (from 0.6% market share in 2015 to 0.8% market share in 2019).

The top five agri-food and seafood suppliers to France accounted for Can$46.8 billion or 55.1% of the total imports in 2019. Canada has been a measureable supplier of agri-food and seafood to France over the past several years. Imports from Canada increased by 10.6% between 2015 and 2019 as market shares increased from 0.6% in 2015 to 0.8% in 2019.

In 2019, Canada ranked tenth for crustaceans, fresh, chilled or frozen and fifteenth for food preparations, n.e.s, import supply into France among global trade partners, supplying France with Can$68.3 million worth of these two commodities. Other top imports of Canadian agri-food and seafood products to France include fish fillets and other fish meat, fresh, chilled or frozen, undenatured ethyl alcohol, strength < 80%, fish, fresh or chilled, fruit juices and vegetable juices, unfermented and beef, fresh or chilled.

Coffee was France's top agri-food and seafood commodity import from the world in 2019, with a value of Can$3.6 billion or 4.3% of overall agri-food and seafood imports. Canada supplied Can$47.8 thousand of coffee or 0.0% market share in 2019, a decrease in compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.8% from Can$53.5 thousand in 2015. France's second largest agri-food and seafood commodity imported from the world was bread, pastry, cakes, biscuits with values of Can$3.1 billion in 2019, to which Canada supplied Can$1.1 million in 2019. Imports of beer made from malt recorded the highest (CAGR) of 13.8% among the top 15 categories from 2015 to 2019, followed by fish, fresh or chilled (8.5%), cheese and curd (7.8%) and food preparations, n.e.s. (7.1%) over the same period.

Top 15 agri-food and seafood imports

1. Coffee (HS 0901)

Canada was France's seventy-fourth largest supplier of coffee with imports valued at Can$47.8 thousand in 2019. Imports of coffee from France's primary suppliers, Switzerland and Germany, increased by 6.4% and 12.3% respectively, from 2015 to 2019.

2. Bread, pastry, cakes and biscuits (HS 1905)

Canada was France's thirty-ninth largest supplier of bread, pastry, cakes and biscuits with imports valued at Can$1.1 million in 2019. Imports of bread, pastry, cakes and biscuits from France's primary suppliers, Germany decreased by 0.6% while Belgium increased 5.2% from 2015 to 2019.

3. Chocolate and other food preparations containing cocoa (HS 1806)

Canada was France's twenty-sixth largest supplier of chocolate and other food preparations containing cocoa, with imports valued at Can$1.2 million in 2019. Imports of chocolate and other food preparations containing cocoa, from France's primary suppliers, Belgium decreased by 0.6% while Germany remained unchanged from 2015 to 2019.

4. Cheese and curds (HS 0406)

Canada was France's thirty-seventh largest supplier of cheese and curd with imports valued at Can$16.1 thousand in 2019. Imports of cheese and curd from France's primary suppliers, Italy and Netherlands increased by 10.9% and 5.7% respectively, from 2015 to 2019.

5. Fish fillets and other fish meat, fresh, chilled or frozen (HS 0304)

Canada was France's twenty-ninth largest supplier of fish fillets and other fish meat, fresh, chilled or frozen with imports valued at Can$6.6 million in 2019. Imports of fish fillets and other fish meat, fresh, chilled or frozen from France's primary suppliers, China and Iceland, increased by 7.2% and 7.7% respectively, from 2015 to 2019.

6. Fish, fresh or chilled (HS 0302)

Canada was France's twenty-fifth largest supplier of fish, fresh or chilled, with imports valued at Can$3.5 million in 2019. Imports of fish, fresh or chilled, from France's primary suppliers, Norway and the United Kingdom (UK), increased by 10.2% and 13.2% respectively, from 2015 to 2019.

7. Undenatured ethyl alcohol, strength < 80% (HS 2208)

Canada was France's twenty-second largest supplier of undenatured ethyl alcohol, strength < 80%, with imports valued at Can$5.6 million in 2019. Imports of undenatured ethyl alcohol, strength < 80%, from France's primary suppliers, the U.K, decreased by 1.0% while imports from Italy increased by 21.3% from 2015 to 2019.

8. Meat and edible offal of fowls (HS 0207)

Canada was France's sixty-eighth largest supplier of meat and edible offal of fowls with imports valued at Can$134.9 thousand in 2015. Imports of meat and edible offal of fowls from France's primary suppliers, Belgium and Poland increased by 6.6% and 11.2% respectively, from 2015 to 2019.

9. Fruit and vegetable juices, unfermented (HS 2009)

Canada was France's thirtieth largest supplier of fruit and vegetable juices, unfermented, with imports valued at Can$1.5 million in 2019. Imports of fruit and vegetable juices, unfermented, from France's primary suppliers, Germany and Spain, increased by 9.2 % and 4.5% respectively, from 2015 to 2019.

10. Food preparations, nowhere else specified (HS 2106)

Canada was France's fifteenth largest supplier of food preparations, nowhere else specified, with imports valued at Can$18.3 million in 2019. Imports of food preparations, nowhere else specified, from France's primary suppliers, Germany and Belgium, increased by 8.9% and 6.0% respectively, from 2015 to 2019.

11. Oilcake and other solid residues (HS 2304)

Canada was the seventeenth largest global supplier, after Belgium and Italy, of oilcake and other solid residues supplying Can$142.6 million in 2019, a decrease in CAGR of 4.2% from Can$169.1 million in 2015. Canada, however, did not supply France with oilcake and other solid residues from 2015 to 2019. Imports of oilcake and other solid residues from France's primary suppliers, Brazil and Belgium, decreased by 2.9% and 3.1% respectively, from 2015 to 2019.

12. Citrus fruit, fresh or dried (HS 0805)

Canada was France's eighty-seventh largest supplier of citrus fruit, fresh or dried, with imports valued at Can$180 in 2019. Imports of citrus fruit, fresh or dried from France's primary suppliers, Spain remained unchanged while imports from South Africa increased by 3.9% from 2015 to 2019.

13. Beef, fresh or chilled (HS 0201)

Canada was France's eighteenth largest supplier of beef, fresh or chilled, with imports valued at Can$1.4 million in 2019. Imports of beef, fresh or chilled from France's primary suppliers, the Netherlands and Ireland, increased by 2.3% and 5.4% respectively, from 2015 to 2019.

14. Crustaceans, fresh, chilled or frozen (HS 0306)

Canada was France's tenth largest supplier of crustaceans, fresh, chilled or frozen, with imports valued at Can$50.0 million in 2019. Imports of crustaceans, fresh, chilled or frozen from France's primary suppliers, Ecuador and the U.K, increased by 0.5% and 3.9% respectively, from 2015 to 2019.

15. Beer made from malt (HS 2203)

Canada was France's twenty-third largest supplier of beer made from malt, with imports valued at Can$1.2 million in 2019. Imports of beer made from malt from France's primary suppliers, Belgium and the Netherlands, increased by 18.9% and 8.2% respectively, from 2015 to 2019.

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Competitive Trade Analysis – Agri-food and seafood trends in France
Global Analysis Report

Prepared by: Laurie Bernardi, International Market Research Analyst

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