Trade between Algeria and France is doing well. Driven by gas on the Algerian side and industrial products and equipment on the French side, trade between the two countries increased by 5.3% in 2023 to reach 11.8 billion euros, according to figures from the French government.
Industrial products
In detail, four major items made up the bulk of French exports to Algeria in 2023. The first item is composed of industrial products. With 1.9 billion euros, they represented 41.7% of French exports to Algeria in 2023, and recorded an increase of 20.5% compared to 2022.
Mechanical equipment
The second item includes mechanical equipment with one billion euros of French exports to Algeria in 2023, up 16.9% compared to 2022.
Transport equipment
The third item includes transport equipment with 863 million euros of exports in 2023, up 21.8% compared to 2022.
Agrifoods industries
The fourth largest item of French exports to Algeria is made up of products from the agri-food industries with 408 million euros of Algerian purchases in 2023 compared to 305 million euros in 2022, an increase of 33.6%.
Agricultural products
The fifth and final item represents the ” traditionally important ” sector of French sales in Algeria: agricultural products. The latter fell sharply by 73.1% in 2023 to 276 million euros.
In total, France exported 4.49 billion euros worth of goods to Algeria in 2023, a very slight decrease of 0.5% compared to 2022, according to the same source.
On the other hand, Algerian exports to France jumped by 8% during the same period to 7.8 billion euros.
French imports from Algeria are dominated by hydrocarbons with an increase of 15.3% in 2023 to six billion euros, including 3.1 billion euros of gas, a sharp increase of 30.1% in 2023.
Gas represented 51.8% of Algerian exports to France in 2023 compared to 48.2% of crude oil (5.6% to 2.9 billion euros).
In 2023, Algeria recorded a positive trade balance of 2.8 billion euros compared to 2.1 billion euros in 2022 with France, due to the increase in its gas exports to France in a global context marked by the energy crisis caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Exports to Algeria: key figures
This crisis led to a rise in gas prices on the world market and forced European Union countries to reduce their imports of Russian gas, which benefited Algeria, whose gas production reached a record 105 billion m3 of gas in 2023 to meet the increase in European demand, particularly from Italy, France and Spain, its traditional customers.
However, Algeria has retained its ” place as the second largest destination market for French sales in Africa ” in 2023, according to the same source.
This trend continued for the period between May 2023 and April 2024, with a negative trade balance for France with Algeria of 2.05 billion euros, according to the French government. During this period, France imported from Algeria for 6.86 billion euros and exported for 4.8 billion euros.
In North Africa, Algeria remains France’s second partner during this period, with 28% of its exports, or 4.8 billion euros, behind Morocco with 7.11 billion euros (41.5%), Tunisia with 3.3 billion euros and Egypt with 1.5 billion euros of French sales.
For French imports from North Africa, Morocco comes first with 7.44 billion euros, followed by Algeria with 6.86 billion euros, Tunisia with 5.163 billion euros, and Egypt with 1.11 billion euros.
