France narrows trade gap in June on buoyant sales abroad

Growing exports have helped cut the French trade deficit by 1.3 billion euros (1.41 billion U.S. dollars) to 2.7 billion euros at the end of June, the lowest trade gap since 2009, customs figures showed on Friday.

At the end of June, France significantly reduced its trade gap thanks to the 1.5 billion euro rise in sales abroad, driven by growing aeronautic sales.

Foreign sales surged 3.9 percent compared to a 0.4 percent decline in May at 39.6 billion euros, while imports slowed by 0.4 percent to 42.3 billion euros in June.

Thanks to aeronautical sales, which showed a strong performance, France gained 3.3 billion euros in sales of 30 Airbus, up from 27 sold aircraft worth 2.26 billion euros in May.

Over the past 12 months, the cumulative trade deficit narrowed to 49.2 billion euros in total, according to official data. (1 euro = 1.087 U.S. dollar)