French trade deficit widened to 4.9 billion euros (6.82 billion U.S. dollars) in March from a month earlier due to growing imports and sluggish sales abroad, official figures showed on Wednesday.

For the past 12 months, the cumulated trade gap was at 59.6 billion euros in total, according to data issued by customs services.

At the end of March, France enlarged its gap by 29 percent due to "limited exports growth," and a rebound in imports "...mainly because of an upturn in energy purchases and exceptional rise in pharmaceutical industry's supplies," they said.

According to customs figures, France's sales abroad inched up to 36.4 billion euros while the value of purchases grew by 3.5 percent to 41.3 billion euros.

The giant aero group Airbus generated 2.18 billion euros after offering 30 aircraft in March, compared with 21 units worth 1.75 billion euros sold a month earlier. (1 euro = 1.393 U.S. dollars) Endi

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