International Market Development

International market development | Comprehensive analysis of French economy and market conditions

Author : Bozhou Marine

Update time : 2020-12-23 15:05:14

In this article, we mainly introduce the basic situation of the French market. Including: geographic location, major cities, population conditions, ethnic groups, major festivals, natural resources, major industries, infrastructure construction, GDP, foreign exchange reserves, employment, prices, corporate income tax, personal tax rates, etc.

Introduction

The French Republic (French: République française, English: French Republic, France), referred to as "France", is a semi-presidential republic with its native place in Western Europe. Its overseas territories include parts of South America and the South Pacific.

France is the third largest country in Europe and the largest in Western Europe. It borders Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy in the east and Spain, Andorra, and Monaco in the south. The land is high in the southeast and low in the northwest, roughly hexagonal, facing water on three sides, facing the Mediterranean Sea to the south, facing the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and facing Britain across the English Channel to the northwest. Corsica is the largest island in France.

France is a highly developed capitalist country and one of the four largest European economies. Its citizens have a high standard of living and a good social security system. It is one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and a founding member of the European Union and NATO. The Schengen Convention and the member states of the Group of Eight, and one of the main political entities on the European continent.

Capital

Paris by the Seine Image | Pixabay

Paris is the capital and largest city of France. It is also the political, economic, cultural and commercial center of France. It is one of the five international metropolises in the world (the remaining four are New York, London, Tokyo, and Hong Kong). GaWC is rated as an Alpha+ world first-tier city.

Broadly speaking, Paris is divided into Little Paris and Greater Paris. Little Paris refers to the city of Paris within the Grand Ring Road, with an area of 105.4 square kilometers and a population of 2.24 million; Greater Paris includes Haute-Seine, Val-de-Marne, Seine-Saint-Denis, and Yvelines around the city The seven provinces of Val d’Oise, Seine-Marne and Essonne together form the Paris Region. The metropolitan area has a population of approximately 11 million, accounting for one-sixth of the country’s population.

  Main City

1. Paris

It is the capital of France, the largest city in France, the second largest city in Europe, and one of the four largest international cities in the world. It has a population of about 11 million, accounting for almost one-fifth of the country's population.

2. Marseille

It is France's second largest city and largest seaport, with an urban population of 1.72 million.

3. Lyon

It is the third largest city in France. Lyon is also an important cultural and artistic center in France and even Europe. It is famous for its silk trade and prospered during the Roman era. In 1998, Lyon was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The urban population is about 500,000.

4. Toulouse

Large city in southwestern France. The fourth largest city in France. Toulouse (Toulouse) is the headquarters of Airbus. The urban population is approximately 460,000.

5. Nice

It is the fifth largest city in France with a population of about 340,000 in the city center. It is the second largest tourist city in France after Paris. It is also one of the most attractive seaside resorts in Europe and the world. Tourists who visit the city of Nice every year The number exceeds 4 million, which is nearly 10 times the population of the city itself. Nice is an absolute holiday paradise for French people.

  Jet Lag

France is in the East Zone 1 and China is in the East Zone 8. Under normal circumstances, the time in France is 7 hours behind China. However, France adopts the European daylight saving time (daylight saving time) standard. Every year from March 30th to October 26th, Europe implements daylight saving time, and the time difference to China will be one hour earlier. In other words, France starts from March 30th every year. From January to October 26, French time is 6 hours behind China.

  Population

As of January 1, 2020, the total population of France reached 67.06 million, an increase of 0.3 percentage points from the previous year's data. Of the total population, nearly 65 million live in mainland France, while the rest live in French overseas provinces.
In the past year, the natural increase in the French population (that is, the number of births minus the number of deaths) was 141,000, the lowest level since 1946.

  Nation

France is a country dominated by the French nation. The main nation is French, accounting for 83% of the country's total population. There are also local ethnic groups such as Alsatian, Breton, Corsican, Flemish, Catalan and Basque ethnic minorities in the border area, accounting for about 7.9% of the total population. France also has foreign immigrants from Africa and Europe, which account for about 8% of the total population.

  Language

The common language of France is French.

  Main Holiday

1. New Year's Day (January 1st)

French New Year's Day was originally April 1st each year, and it was not until 1564 that King Charles IX changed it to January 1st.

2. Epiphany (January 6th)

The twelfth day after Christmas is the "Epiphany", and these 12 days represent the time difference between the lunar calendar and the solar calendar.

3. Easter (the first Sunday after the vernal equinox)

Easter is also called "Lord Easter" or "Jesus Easter Festival". It is a traditional religious festival set up by the French folk to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus.

4. Ascension Day (40 days after Easter)

It is a traditional religious holiday and one of the legal holidays in France. It is scheduled on Thursday of the fifth week after Easter every year, which is forty days after Easter.

5. Pentecost/Pentecost (50 days after Easter)

Pentecost (lundi de Pentecôte) is held to commemorate the coming of the Holy Spirit sent after Jesus was resurrected.

6. May 1st International Labor Day / Lily of the Valley Festival

7. National Day (July 14th)

8. Assumption of the Virgin: August 15th (Catholic), August 27th (Orthodox)

9. Feast of All Saints (November 1st)

10. Armistice Day (November 11th)

11. Christmas (December 25th)

Natural Resources

The main mineral deposits in the country are iron ore, followed by bauxite and potash ore. The iron ore reserves are about 1 billion tons, but the grade is low, the mining cost is high, and the coal reserves are almost exhausted. All iron ore and coal mines have been closed, and the required ores are completely dependent on imports. The reserves of non-ferrous metals are small and almost all rely on imports. Energy mainly depends on nuclear energy, and about 78% of electricity is provided by nuclear energy. In addition, the development and utilization of hydropower and geothermal resources are relatively sufficient. The forest area is about 15.565 million hectares and the coverage rate is 28.6%.

Major Industries

Britain is the fifth largest economic power in the world. It not only has a long history and solid foundation as the pioneer of the industrial revolution, but also continues to maintain a strong industrial strength and competitive advantage in the information age.

1. Aerospace

The French aerospace industry is developed and has formed a relatively solid foundation, relatively advanced technology, and relatively complete aerospace system with basic equipment for teaching, scientific research, design and production. The aviation industry is the industry with the highest export contribution rate in France, and 70% of its turnover comes from the international market. At the end of 2018, the industry employed 159,000 employees, accounting for 6.1% of non-agricultural employment. The French aviation industry spends 17% of its annual turnover on research and development.

Well-known large companies include Airbus, Safran, Dassault, Thales, MBDA, Ariane Space, Zodiac, Daher, etc.

2. Civil nuclear energy

France is the world leader in civilian nuclear power, second only to the United States in terms of the number of nuclear power units in service and total installed capacity, and the per capita nuclear power generation ranks first in the world.

3. High-speed railway

The French high-speed rail TGV is the pioneer of high-speed trains in Europe. In 1981, France had high-speed trains. Since it was the first to operate in Europe, the French high-speed rail standards once became the basis of European high-speed rail technology, which had a huge impact on the development of European high-speed rail networks.

The French high-speed rail is at the world's leading level in the four-generation traction technology of signal system, bow network, DC traction, excitation synchronous traction, asynchronous AC traction and permanent magnet synchronous traction.

4. Automobile manufacturing

The French automobile manufacturing industry is developed, and its output value accounts for 16% of the French manufacturing industry. Peugeot Citroen and Renault are world-renowned automakers.

5. Pharmaceutical industry

The French pharmaceutical industry has a long history and advanced technology. It is one of the important pillars of the French economy. It is also one of the industries that earn more foreign exchange through exports. About 1/3 of the medicines are exported to more than 120 countries and regions around the world.

6. Environmental protection industry

Veolia Environmental Group (Veolia) is one of the world’s three major water groups, focusing on the three core areas of environmental services and sustainable development: waste management, water service and energy management. Enterprises and cities provide comprehensive and efficient solutions and services.

Suez Environnement is a world-renowned environmental group, committed to sustainable development, providing users with new management solutions in public utilities such as water and garbage disposal, and is at the world's leading level.

7. Agricultural food product processing industry

Picture | Pixabay

The processing industry of agricultural and food products is one of the pillar industries for France's foreign trade export surplus, and many fields occupy a leading position in the world. 24 of the top 100 agri-food industry groups in Europe are in France, and 7 of the world’s top 100 agri-food industry groups are in France. The export of agricultural and sideline products in France ranks first in the world, accounting for 11% of the world market share.

8. Luxury goods industry

The French fashion and luxury goods industry has become the benchmark for global brands, and luxury goods in various fields such as leather goods, jewelry, clothing, accessories, cosmetics, wine and spirits, and life art are world-renowned. French luxury goods companies account for a quarter of the global turnover. According to the global luxury power rankings published by Deloitte, a world-renowned auditing and business consulting company, French companies account for half of them. LVMH ranks first, Estée Lauder ranks second, and Kering Group ranks Fourth, Chanel ranked sixth and L'Oreal ranked seventh.

Infrastructure

Railway

In the French mainland, the national railway network goes to all places except Corsica, with a total length of 31,939 kilometers, of which 15,687 kilometers are electrified railways and 2024 kilometers are high-speed railways. High-speed train technology is the world leader. In 2016, the railway passenger volume was 93 billion people/km, and the freight volume was 34.3 billion tons/km.

Highway

The French road network is the densest in the world and the longest among EU countries, with a total length of more than 1 million kilometers, of which 11,465 kilometers of highways. In 2016, the road passenger turnover was 928 billion people/km, of which the passenger traffic using private cars was 756.4 billion people/km, and the use of public transportation was 190 billion people/km. The road freight volume is 281.4 billion tons/km.

Water Transport

The total length of inland waterways is 14,932 kilometers, of which about 1,900 kilometers can pass ships of more than 1,500 tons. Paris is the main river port. The freight volume in 2015 was 7.5 billion tons/km. The main seaports are Marseille, Le Havre and Dunkirk. In 2015, the total throughput of French seaports was 338 million tons.

Air Transport

In 2016, the air passenger turnover volume was nearly 14.8 billion. There are 494 airports, of which 153 are for civilian use, reaching 529 cities in 134 countries and regions. The main airports are Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, Orly Airport and Nice Airport.

Economic growth has been slow in recent years, and GDP will drop sharply in 2020

French GDP growth rate trend chart over the years | TRADING ECONOMICS

In 2019, France's GDP was approximately US$2.707 trillion, ranking seventh in the world, accounting for approximately 18.8% of China's GDP during the same period. In 2019, France's per capita GDP is approximately US$40,400.

The actual growth rate of the French economy in 2019 was only 1.3%, which is still relatively low compared with other regions in the world. Moreover, in the fourth quarter of 2019, the French economy fell by 0.1% month-on-month, and the actual growth rate was only 0.8% year-on-year-the lowest value in the four quarters of the year.

Affected by the epidemic, the GDP growth rate will drop sharply in 2020. The Bank of France, the Bank of France, predicted on June 9 that it will drop by more than 10% in the whole year.

Foreign exchange reserves are volatile

Trends of France's total foreign exchange reserves over the years | TRADING ECONOMICS

From 2011 to 2020, French foreign exchange reserves fluctuate greatly.

The overall growth of the employed population, the unemployment rate has been declining in recent years

Trend map of total employed population in France over the years | TRADING ECONOMICS

From 2010 to 2019, the overall employment population in Belgium has shown an increase. Affected by the epidemic and blockade, the employment population will show a significant downward trend in 2020.

Trends in France's unemployment rate over the years | TRADING ECONOMICS

According to data released by the French National Institute of Statistics and Economics (INSEE) on October 6, due to the outbreak of the epidemic again, French GDP may stagnate in the fourth quarter of this year. In addition, the unemployment rate of the employed population in France by the end of 2020 may climb to 9.7%, an increase of 1.6 points compared with the end of 2019.

In the first half of this year, the number of salaried employees dismissed in France was 715,000. In the second half of the year, it will slightly increase to 730,000. The total number of dismissals in France will reach 840,000 by the end of the year.

The consumer price index continues to rise, and the inflation rate fluctuates greatly

French Consumer Price Index Trend Chart | TRADING ECONOMICS

From 2011 to 2020, the French consumer price index CPI continued to rise.

French inflation rate trend chart | TRADING ECONOMICS

From 2011 to 2020, France's inflation rate fluctuated greatly. In 2015 and 2016, it once fell to a negative number, and in 2020 it was close to a negative number.

Corporate income tax 28%

French corporate income tax rates over the years | TRADING ECONOMICS

In 2020, the French corporate income tax rate is 28%.

Personal income tax 45%

French personal income tax rate over the years | TRADING ECONOMICS

In 2020, the French personal income tax rate is 45%.

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