ve business climate created by membership in the EC has forced many companies to be restructured and combined to form powerful corporations (Martinique).The leading manufacturing industries are metallurgy, mechanical and electrical engineering, chemicals, and textiles. In 1986, France ranked third in Europe in steel production with an output of 14.8 million metric tons and second in aluminum output (Martinique). These and imported metals are fabricated into a wide range of mechanical and electrical equipment marketed throughout the world. French locomotives, turbines, electronics equipment, nuclear power plants and submarines, and television systems are famous for their innovative design, as are French automobiles, such as Citroen, Peugeot, Simca, and Renault, and French aircraft, such as Mirage, Concorde, and Airbus. A wide range of chemicals, including perfumes, pharmaceuticals, nitric acid, sulfuric acid, and fertilizers, are also produced. The French textile and garment industry has long been known for its high fashion, although in recent years the industry has lost many former markets to lower-priced imports from countries with lower labor costs. (Martinique).MiningLess than 1% of the labor force is engaged in mining (Country Reports). In 1988 coal production was 14.5 million metric tons (16.9 million U.S. tons), most of it from two principal coalfields -- the Lorraine coalfield near Metz, which is an extension into France of the Saar coalfield; and the Nord-Pas de Calais coalfield around Lille, which is an extension into France of Belgium's Sambre-Meuse coalfields and is similarly thin-seamed, faulted, and difficult to work (Country Reports). Since the 1950s many inefficient mines in the north and in the Massif Central have been closed, and coal output has declined by about 75% (?). Large bauxite deposits (from which aluminum is produced) are mined in the south; France is one of Europe's leading producers of bauxite. Potash deposi...
