The long phase of increasing agri-food exports, which began during the mid-1960s with the introduction of the CAP, came to an end during the 1990s, affecting France's position on both Third World markets and the EU market. However, France's weakened position was not just the simple consequence of the CAP reforms and the gradual liberalisation of world trade. France's decreasing market shares resulted from increased competition from other Member States (Germany, Spain), and also from traditional exporters (Australia, Brazil) or new exporters (Russia, Ukraine, Thailand) from outside the EU. France's stagnation on these markets was concealed until 2000 by the boom in wine sales (particularly in Japan), and especially the high appreciation of wines. From then on, the downturn in exports of appellation still wines, particularly on the British market, revealed the weakened agri-food trading surplus. After reaching more than €10 billion in 1997, the agri-food balance of trade regularly registered a decline, confirmed in 2003 and 2004. Excluding drinks, the surplus had more than halved between the start of the 1990s and the middle of the 2000s. France's prospects on the world markets seem to have been weakened because of its concentration on products where the price remains or becomes the competitive criterion, whether they are less processed products such as cereals, sugar, poultry meat, or more processed products, such as wine. Conversely, the improved performance of second transformation agri-food products (excluding alcoholic beverages), particularly the gains made on the EU market during 1992, are strengthening France's positions.