Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne will be in Algeria this weekend with 16 members of the government to renew our relations with the country. Paris and Algiers are closely linked economically.
Elisabeth Borne will be in Algiers on Sunday, October 9 and Monday, October 10, accompanied by 16 members of her government. A diplomatic visit on an unprecedented scale. “Algerian gas against French wheat”, the two countries need each other.
France first needs Algerian gas. It is vital! Officially, we must not talk about it during Elisabeth Borne’s trip. Until last year, our biggest gas suppliers were Norway (36%), Russia (17%), and Algeria (8%). The supply of Algerian gas has therefore become strategic for us if we want to free ourselves from Russian deliveries.
Can Algeria increase its deliveries? This is where it gets tricky. Algeria is already at the maximum of its production capacities. It extracts 105 billion cubic meters of gas, it has never been at such a high level since the beginning of the century. And she sells almost everything she produces at current prices. The country will therefore find it difficult to go beyond that… It must also meet its domestic demand. And if Elisabeth Borne pulls out all the stops, it’s because we have competitors who are interested, especially the Italians.
But France also supplies wheat to Algeria, which is an asset. Finally, France is giving wheat. At the end of 2021, Algeria had completely excluded France from its wheat purchases. The country had turned to Germany, Argentina and… Russia. Today, the Maghreb countries fear a lack of wheat, food riots, and the Algerian harvest has fallen by 38% due to drought. Russia is no longer a possible supplier, it is easier to return to the historical partner: France.
France can respond to the Algerian request. It’s our interest, give and take. 500,000 tons of wheat left the port of Rouen before the summer. We, therefore, restore normal commercial relations with Algiers. Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Franco-Algerian trade has increased by 32%.
France is Algeria’s second-largest supplier of cereals, pharmaceutical products, and automobiles. But beware, we have been overtaken by China. France is also Algeria’s second largest customer, behind Italy. France and Algeria remain closely linked. Sometimes it’s true, despite their bodies (or their hearts).
