Do foreign demand shocks impact company sales in France?

An interaction can be observed between a company’s level of exports and its domestic sales. Estimates made using data on French companies show that a 10% increase (decrease) in exports is accompanied, in the same year, by a 1% to 3% increase (decrease) in domestic sales. This strong interaction between sales in different markets can result from short-term funding constraints that make companies more sensitive to changes in their international environment. During the crisis, the sharp contraction in demand recorded in some of the euro area markets could therefore have had a negative impact on the activity of French companies in the domestic market, in particular for the most vulnerable.