2
Canadians satisfy a sweet tooth French confectioner finds a sweet deal in Canada • The Provence region of France enjoys an excellent reputation for its cuisine seeing strong demand in North America and Asia. • The EU-Canada trade agreement will enable a French confectioner to offer its products at more attractive prices La Confiserie du Roy René is a French confectioner specialised in calissons. The company, based in Aix-en-Provence, has been perfecting the art of calissons (sweets made of candied fruit and almonds) since 1920. It company adopted a strategy of internationalisation in 2014 by taking advantage of EU trade deals with partners around the world. Today, La Confiserie du Roy René is a world leader in both making and retailing calissons. Fuelled by French expertise in the sector the confectioner has already doubled its turnover from exports since 2015, which now make up over 9% of the company’s total turnover. As a result of such strong international business, La Confiserie du Roy René has hired an additional employee to oversee exports. The company also plans to expand its compliance team to ensure their products can be sold at the highest standards all over the world. La Confiserie du Roy René eagerly awaits the ratification of the EU’s trade agreement with Canada because the reduction of trade tariffs would enable the confectioner to offer its calissons at more competitive prices. The company soon hopes to also satisfy the sweet tooth of markets in the United States, Japan and South Korea, all of which the EU is presently negotiating trade agreements. Did you know? • Exports from the EU support 31 million jobs for Europeans, of which more than 2.2 million in France. • 99% of all customs duties on goods and services will be abolished under CETA. This is estimated to result in EU-wide savings of about €500m per year.
