France Industry
Around 22% of all gainfully employed people are employed in the manufacturing industry. The contribution to GDP was 19.4% (2014). About a third of the industry produces semi-finished products. Finished goods in the automotive, capital and consumer goods industries account for almost 70% of the total production value.
In the aircraft industry, with its center in Toulouse for the civil and in Toulouse and Bordeaux for the military, France is a leader in Europe alongside Great Britain and Germany and has an important position in the production of Airbus aircraft. Shipbuilding, which has fallen behind on a global scale in recent years, is primarily concentrated in the Saint-Nazaire site and specializes in the construction of tankers and passenger ships.
The metallurgical industry continues to be one of the leading branches, which, in addition to copper, lead, zinc and aluminum extraction, is primarily geared towards iron and steel extraction. The most important branches of the capital goods industry include mechanical engineering, vehicle construction and shipbuilding, the aerospace industry, the electronic and electrotechnical industry, as well as the defense, automotive and bicycle industries. The automotive industry is one of the key sectors of the French economy; it is the most export-intensive branch of the economy, but is suffering from a sharp drop in sales. The main production facilities are in the Paris area. The leading industries also include the chemical, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. Despite structural weaknesses, the textile and clothing industry plays a leading role in Europe. Other important sectors are the food and beverage industry, the construction industry, and the manufacture of wood, leather and paper goods.
Overall, according to youremailverifier, French industry has a modern production structure and in some areas it is a technological leader. Compared to Germany, however, the growth sectors of the capital goods sector have a lower weight and some traditional sectors affected by structural crises (e.g. steel, textile and clothing industry) have a comparatively large share. The structure of industrial companies is still unbalanced; there is a gap between the few internationally competitive large companies in almost all areas and a large number of small companies.
In contrast to Germany, with its more decentralized distribution of industrial activity over a larger number of equally important urban areas, the industrial focus in France is still limited to half of the country, northeast of a Caen-Marseille line, and there essentially to the regions Île- de-France (Greater Paris area), Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (Saint-Étienne, Lyon, Grenoble), Hauts-de-France (Lille, Dunkirk, Boulogne-sur-Mer), Bourgogne-Franche-Comté (Besançon, Montbéliard, Belfort). With the exception of the sub-centers around Nantes, Bordeaux and Toulouse, the entire south-west of the country is dominated by agriculture. Due to the structural crisis in coal mining and shipbuilding as well as in the steel and textile industry, which particularly affects the north and Lorraine and the Marseilles area, the traditional, double industrialization divide between Paris and the province and between northeast and southwest is superimposed by a new, reverse divide: Large parts of the technologically competitive industry and centers of cutting-edge technologies are today in the parts of the country south of the Loire, e. B. in Nice, Bordeaux and Toulouse. In order to facilitate structural adjustments in the old branches of industry (rehabilitation of crisis sectors, settlement of technology-oriented companies) and to improve the profitability of companies in general, the government provides cheap financial resources and loans. Since a very large part of the companies consists of small family businesses with low productivity, enjoy investment aid for the development of the PME (French abbreviation The double industrialization divide between Paris and the province and between the northeast and the southwest is superimposed by a new, reverse divide: Large parts of the technologically competitive industry and centers of cutting-edge technologies are now located in the parts of the country south of the Loire, e. B. in Nice, Bordeaux and Toulouse. In order to facilitate structural adjustments in the old branches of industry (rehabilitation of crisis sectors, settlement of technology-oriented companies) and to improve the profitability of companies in general, the government provides cheap financial resources and loans. Since a very large part of the companies consists of small family businesses with low productivity, enjoy investment aid for the development of the PME (French abbreviation The double industrialization divide between Paris and the province and between the northeast and the southwest is superimposed by a new, reverse divide: Large parts of the technologically competitive industry and centers of cutting-edge technologies are now located in the parts of the country south of the Loire, e. B. in Nice, Bordeaux and Toulouse. In order to facilitate structural adjustments in the old branches of industry (rehabilitation of crisis sectors, settlement of technology-oriented companies) and to improve the profitability of companies in general, the government provides cheap financial resources and loans. Since a very large part of the companies consists of small family businesses with low productivity, enjoy investment aid for the development of the PME (French abbreviation p etites et m oyennes e ntreprises) a high priority.
