How dependent is France on Belgium?

A product has a dominant supplier when a single country sells more than 50% of what is bought of it; we flag it separately above 75%.

• Belgium sells 9.5% of what the world exports of stainless steel sheet; next come Indonesia (18.5%), China (16.7%) and Finland (8.1%). The rest of the world exported 25.8 times what France buys from Belgium.
• Belgium sells 9.8% of what the world exports of beer; next come Mexico (37.5%), Netherlands (10.4%) and Germany (6.9%). The rest of the world exported 23.1 times what France buys from Belgium.
• Belgium sells 28.8% of what the world exports of frozen vegetables; next come Netherlands (20%), Canada (13.7%) and United States (10.5%). The rest of the world exported 15.3 times what France buys from Belgium.
• Belgium sells 9% of what the world exports of margarine; next come Indonesia (21.4%), Netherlands (7.9%) and Malaysia (6.8%). The rest of the world exported 28.6 times what France buys from Belgium.
• Belgium sells 6.6% of what the world exports of cold-rolled flat steel; next come China (18.5%), South Korea (14.8%) and Japan (9.1%). The rest of the world exported 57.1 times what France buys from Belgium.
• Belgium sells 5.3% of what the world exports of chemically modified fats and oils; next come China (25.6%), Malaysia (11.6%) and Netherlands (10.1%). The rest of the world exported 64.3 times what France buys from Belgium.
• Belgium sells 3.9% of what the world exports of gravel and crushed stone; next come Norway (13.1%), China (10.2%) and Germany (7.8%). The rest of the world exported 42.1 times what France buys from Belgium.
• Belgium sells 18% of what the world exports of wheat gluten; next come China (17.5%), Australia (13.3%) and Germany (10.5%). The rest of the world exported 18.9 times what France buys from Belgium.
• Belgium sells 1.3% of what the world exports of direct-reduced iron; next come Russia (18.5%), Oman (16.7%) and Trinidad and Tobago (13.4%). The rest of the world exported 79.2 times what France buys from Belgium.
• Belgium sells 16.7% of what the world exports of antifreeze; next come Germany (21.4%), United States (14.4%) and Netherlands (5.1%). The rest of the world exported 21.7 times what France buys from Belgium.

Exports from the rest of the world already have buyers; the figure shows scale, not availability.

France is Belgium’s 2nd-largest customer, with 14.8% of its exports.

• Trade between France and Belgium
• Who does France rely on?
• Who does Belgium rely on?
• Dependence of France on China
• Dependence of France on Switzerland
• Dependence of France on Spain
• Dependence of France on Italy
• Dependence of France on South Korea
• Dependence of France on Germany
• Dependence of France on Morocco
• Dependence of France on the United Kingdom
• Dependence of France on Brazil
• Dependence of France on the Netherlands
• Dependence of France on Australia
• Dependence of France on Canada
• Trade profile of France
• Trade profile of Belgium
• All countries

Sources and licenses

• CEPII BACI · Licence Ouverte Etalab 2.0
• Natural Earth · Public domain

Methodology

The data come from CEPII BACI (Etalab 2.0 licence), which reconciles what the exporting and the importing country report, in current USD, FOB. Data up to 2024.

Dependence is the share of a country’s imports (or exports) that each partner accounts for. It does not measure whether a product has a substitute or how much it would cost to change supplier.

The concentration index (HHI) adds up the square of each partner’s share, in percent: it runs from 0 to 10,000. Its equivalent is 10,000 ÷ HHI, the number of partners of the same size that would give that value.

Products are HS4 headings of the 1992 nomenclature (some combine different goods), with a floor of $1 million per product and country.

The EU is the 27 current members in every year; the United Kingdom is outside the EU throughout the series.

Re-exports: countries that act as redistribution hubs carry their notice and the figures are not corrected.