French industries are worried that last week’s Brexit vote threatens to undermine business dealings between the UK and France, with London ranked as one of Paris’s top trading partners, reports FRANCE 24.
The French agriculture industry was one of the first to sound the alarm the day after the Brexit vote. The British love to eat “à la française”, and according to a statement from France’s National Association of Food Industries (ANIA) the sectors “most touched [by Brexit] will be wine and dairy products, which make up the bulk of French agriculture exports”.
It’s a valid concern: in 2015, France exported €4.54 billion in food products to the UK, or 14 percent of total exports from that sector. The pound’s drop in value relative to the euro following the Brexit vote means that UK buyers will have to spend more to buy the same goods, which risks diminishing the zeal of those British businesses that import from across the Channel.
The consequences would be felt well beyond the agricultural industry. The UK is France’s fifth-largest export market. The more the pound falls – on Monday it was at a 30-year low – the fewer Britons will be tempted to buy French products as they become more expensive.