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By Estelle Shirbon
PARIS, May 7 (Reuters) - French exports of most manufactured goods stabilised in March although a drop in Airbus sales and a rise in energy imports combined to widen the trade deficit, data from the customs office showed on Thursday.
The overall deficit in March was 4.884 billion euros ($6.49 billion) compared with 4.124 billion the previous month. Exports dropped by 525 million euros month-on-month while imports rose by 235 million.
Both exports and imports were down close to 9 percent in the first quarter compared with the last three months of 2008.
"The major industrial components have stabilised, with the notable exception of the aeronautical industry," the statistics department of the customs office said in a note on the data.
Energy imports rose to 3.616 billion euros in March from 3.467 billion in February, while energy exports in the same period dropped to 593 million euros from 649 billion.
Airbus sales fell to 19 in March from 24 in February, with a corresponding drop in value to 987 million euros from 1.24 billion, but analysts said this was not too worrisome as Airbus had plump order books ensuring exports for the next five years.
Economists said the French data was consistent with signs from elsewhere that global trade was shrinking more slowly, but not recovering.
"The contraction of global trade has been interrupted but there's no dynamism ... The fact that imports are holding up also shows that domestic demand in France is holding up relatively well," said Jean-Louis Mourier of Aurel BGC in Paris.
French car exports stopped falling and began recovering towards certain countries, including Germany, Britain and Slovakia. The customs office attributed this to bonuses offered in those countries for scrapping old cars and buying new ones.
A similar measure introduced in France in late 2008 was supporting the auto industry and imports of cars also grew in March, customs said.
In the aeronautical industry, both imports and exports were down. The drop in imports was due to the absence of Boeing purchases, which amounted to 400 million euros in February, while exports were hit by the lesser Airbus sales.
For other manufactured goods, most sectors were roughly stable or moderately down, with the exceptions of the pharmaceutical, cosmetic and perfume industries, traditional areas of French strength. (Additional reporting by Sophie Hardach and Tamora Vidaillet) (Reporting by Estelle Shirbon; editing by Chris Pizzey and Andy Bruce)