What does France produce and export?
France ranks in the top ten producers of 14 commodities: cheese (#3, 7.5% of world output in 2023), uranium (#3, 14% of world output in 2025), barley (#4, 6.8% of world output in 2024), grapes (#5, 6.3% of world output in 2024), canola (#6, 4.5% of world output in 2024), sunflower oil (#7, 2.7% of world output in 2023) and more. It is a top-ten exporter of potatoes (#1, 21% of world export value in 2024), barley (#2, 16% of world export value in 2024), vanilla (#2, 7.6% of world export value in 2024), canola (#4, 5.8% of world export value in 2024), cheese (#4, 9.4% of world export value in 2024) and more.
The Paris basin is a shallow bowl of chalk and limestone covered by wind-blown loam, and the oceanic climate gives it mild winters and rain spread through the year. That combination suits soft winter wheat, which is sown in autumn and yields more per hectare than almost anywhere else, though at lower protein than the hard spring wheats of North America. French millers and the export trade are built around that grain: bread wheat for North African bakeries, biscuit wheat for the food industry. France grew 3.3% of the world's wheat in 2024 (FAOSTAT) and held 7.3% of world wheat export value in 2024 (CEPII BACI), shipped mainly through Rouen on the Seine and Dunkirk. Barley on the same rotation gave 16% of world barley export value in 2024 (CEPII BACI), much of it malting grade for brewers.
Sugar has a specific history. Cane sugar was cut off from continental Europe by the British naval blockade during the Napoleonic wars, and beet, a temperate root crop from which sugar had first been extracted in a laboratory a few decades earlier, was planted under state encouragement from 1811. The industry survived the blockade and became permanent, concentrated in the northern departments where beet fits into a rotation with wheat. France held 3.9% of world sugar export value in 2024 (CEPII BACI). European production quotas that had limited output since the 1960s were abolished in 2017, after which growers planted to the market instead of to an allocation. Irrigated maize in the southwest added 3.9% of world corn export value in 2024 (CEPII BACI).
The import side is the tropics and the energy market. France roasts and grinds goods it cannot grow, buying 3.2% of world cocoa import value and 2.6% of world coffee import value in 2024 (CEPII BACI). It has almost no gas of its own; the Lacq field in the southwest, which supplied the country from 1951, is exhausted, so France took 4.1% of world natural gas import value in 2024 (CEPII BACI) through pipelines and four liquefied-gas terminals, using it for heat and industry rather than for most electricity, which comes from its nuclear fleet.
What does France produce?
| Commodity | World rank | Share of world | Production | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cheese | 3 | 7.5% | 1.7 million t | 2023 | FAOSTAT |
| Uranium | 3 | 14% | 390 terawatt-hours | 2025 | Energy Institute |
| Barley | 4 | 6.8% | 9.7 million t | 2024 | FAOSTAT |
| Grapes | 5 | 6.3% | 4.7 million t | 2024 | FAOSTAT |
| Canola | 6 | 4.5% | 3.9 million t | 2024 | FAOSTAT |
| Sunflower oil | 7 | 2.7% | 619,600 t | 2023 | FAOSTAT |
| Milk | 8 | 3.1% | 24.2 million t | 2024 | FAOSTAT |
| Potatoes | 8 | 2.4% | 9.2 million t | 2024 | FAOSTAT |
| Wheat | 8 | 3.3% | 26.6 million t | 2024 | FAOSTAT |
| Apples | 9 | 2% | 2 million t | 2024 | FAOSTAT |
| Linseed | 9 | 1.3% | 39,620 t | 2024 | FAOSTAT |
| Pork | 9 | 1.7% | 2.1 million t | 2024 | FAOSTAT |
| Beef | 10 | 1.9% | 1.3 million t | 2024 | FAOSTAT |
| Corn | 10 | 1.2% | 14.7 million t | 2024 | FAOSTAT |
What does France export?
| Rank | Country | Export value (US$) | Share of world |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | potatoes | $1.5 billion | 21% |
| 2 | barley | $1.4 billion | 16% |
| 2 | vanilla | $34.9 million | 7.6% |
| 4 | canola | $768 million | 5.8% |
| 4 | cheese | $4.2 billion | 9.4% |
| 4 | rare-earths | $98.2 million | 8.8% |
| 4 | sorghum | $48.5 million | 1.8% |
| 4 | sugar | $1.7 billion | 3.9% |
| 5 | corn | $1.9 billion | 3.9% |
| 5 | milk | $1.1 billion | 5.1% |
| Rest of world | $0 | 17% |
| Commodity | World rank | Share of world exports | Export value | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Potatoes | 1 | 21% | $1.5 billion | 2024 |
| Barley | 2 | 16% | $1.4 billion | 2024 |
| Vanilla | 2 | 7.6% | $34.9 million | 2024 |
| Canola | 4 | 5.8% | $768 million | 2024 |
| Cheese | 4 | 9.4% | $4.2 billion | 2024 |
| Rare earths | 4 | 8.8% | $98.2 million | 2024 |
| Sorghum | 4 | 1.8% | $48.5 million | 2024 |
| Sugar | 4 | 3.9% | $1.7 billion | 2024 |
| Corn | 5 | 3.9% | $1.9 billion | 2024 |
| Milk | 5 | 5.1% | $1.1 billion | 2024 |
| Lamb | 6 | 2.6% | $233.1 million | 2024 |
| Logs | 6 | 3.6% | $463.3 million | 2024 |
| Tomatoes | 6 | 4.3% | $515.5 million | 2024 |
| Wheat | 6 | 7.3% | $4.2 billion | 2024 |
| Steel | 7 | 2.8% | $1.9 billion | 2024 |
| Apples | 8 | 5.8% | $471.4 million | 2024 |
| Oats | 8 | 2% | $21.9 million | 2024 |
| Palladium | 8 | 3.7% | $479.7 million | 2024 |
| Sunflower oil | 8 | 2.9% | $552.7 million | 2024 |
| Eggs | 9 | 3.3% | $191.9 million | 2024 |
| Linseed | 9 | 1.2% | $14.4 million | 2024 |
| Plantains | 9 | 2.1% | $23.4 million | 2024 |
| Pork | 9 | 3% | $1.1 billion | 2024 |
| Chicken | 10 | 2.5% | $893.2 million | 2024 |
| Cinnamon | 10 | 0.8% | $6.8 million | 2024 |
| Lithium | 10 | 0.2% | $8 million | 2024 |
| Olive oil | 10 | 0.6% | $97.4 million | 2024 |
| Quinoa | 10 | 1.4% | $4 million | 2024 |
| Salmon | 10 | 1% | $151.8 million | 2024 |
Top-ten importer of
- Cheese: #2, 7% of world imports, $3.1 billion (2024)
- Oranges: #2, 7.9% of world imports, $434.2 million (2024)
- Salmon: #2, 10% of world imports, $1.7 billion (2024)
- Vanilla: #2, 26% of world imports, $119.8 million (2024)
- Chicken: #3, 5.8% of world imports, $2.1 billion (2024)
- Lamb: #3, 9.6% of world imports, $868.9 million (2024)
- Tomatoes: #3, 9% of world imports, $1.1 billion (2024)
- Uranium: #3, 9.6% of world imports, $151.7 million (2024)
- Avocados: #4, 5.1% of world imports, $476.5 million (2024)
- Dates: #4, 5.2% of world imports, $128.3 million (2024)
- Olive oil: #4, 5.6% of world imports, $903.5 million (2024)
- Canola: #5, 4.7% of world imports, $616 million (2024)
- Hazelnuts: #5, 7.1% of world imports, $162 million (2024)
- Honey: #5, 5% of world imports, $115.2 million (2024)
- Pineapples: #5, 5% of world imports, $139.8 million (2024)
- Rare earths: #5, 4.3% of world imports, $48.2 million (2024)
- Shrimp: #5, 3.6% of world imports, $1.1 billion (2024)
- Silk: #5, 4.6% of world imports, $17.1 million (2024)
- Yams: #5, 4.7% of world imports, $12 million (2024)
- Almonds: #6, 4.9% of world imports, $254.3 million (2024)
- Bananas: #6, 4.3% of world imports, $669.8 million (2024)
- Phosphate fertilizers: #6, 3.3% of world imports, $117.8 million (2024)
- Quinoa: #6, 4% of world imports, $11.7 million (2024)
- Linseed: #7, 2.9% of world imports, $36.4 million (2024)
- Natural gas: #7, 4.1% of world imports, $19.4 billion (2024)
- Nickel: #7, 4.9% of world imports, $702.7 million (2024)
- Potatoes: #7, 3.8% of world imports, $270.5 million (2024)
- Urea: #7, 3% of world imports, $609.7 million (2024)
- Eggs: #8, 3.4% of world imports, $202.4 million (2024)
- Plywood: #8, 2.7% of world imports, $454.4 million (2024)
- Sawnwood: #8, 2.5% of world imports, $967.9 million (2024)
- Cassava: #9, 2.6% of world imports, $89.4 million (2024)
- Cocoa: #9, 3.2% of world imports, $598.3 million (2024)
- Coffee: #9, 2.6% of world imports, $878 million (2024)
- Lithium: #9, 0.8% of world imports, $29.1 million (2024)
- Bauxite: #10, 0.3% of world imports, $36.3 million (2024)
- Manganese: #10, 1.1% of world imports, $73.2 million (2024)
- Mangoes: #10, 2.6% of world imports, $109.4 million (2024)
Sources: FAOSTAT (crops and livestock), USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries (minerals), Energy Institute Statistical Review (energy) for production; CEPII BACI for trade. Ranks count only the commodities on this site.
Downloads and citation
This country's rankings as JSON. Cite as: Commodity Origins, "What does France produce and export?", https://commodityorigins.com/countries/FRA/ (CC BY 4.0).
Data updated 6 September 2026.