Foreigners are buying less Swiss Watches

The watch industry exported nearly 4 percent in May, less than in the previous month. One particularly striking decline of 14 percent in gold watches.

Significantly fewer clocks were exported to Hong Kong and China. (
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A little delight for the Swiss export sector in May: With 17.4 billion Swiss francs, exports decreased compared to the same month last year again by 0.9 percent. Also corrected for working with the 1.3 percent decline in exports was considerable.



Seasonally adjusted - ie compared with the previous month - this was the fourth month in the current year with negative growth, such as the Federal Customs Administration (FCA) announced on Thursday. The downward trend that is set to continue.

The weightiest three exporting sectors registered a decline: Both the chemical and pharmaceutical industry (-0.3 percent) and the machinery and electronics industry (-0.9 percent) struggled with declining numbers. The watch industry was -3.9 percent most clearly in the negative.

Less demand for gold watches

Significantly fewer clocks were exported to Hong Kong and China. The export volume is moving at a high level, but I suffered from unfavorable base effects, the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry (FHS) wrote on Thursday in the monthly bulletin. In previous years, sales of watches, especially in Asia have risen sharply.

In addition, the decrease is due, according to FHS to the decline in gold watches. Overall, 14 percent of these watches were made with 44,300 pieces. In Franconia, the volume of exported gold watches fell 12 percent to 615 million francs.

Small industries plus

While the former supports the Swiss export industry showed signs of weakness, small industries recorded an export growth. The more precision instruments were delivered abroad (+8.3 percent). Even the plastics industry (+4.8 percent), metal industry (+1.7 percent) and food and beverages (+1 percent) were up.

In geographical comparison showed a different picture, according to FCA. By Latin America (11 percent) was exported significantly more than last year. After Asia (1 percent), exports increased slightly, while deliveries were down in the other continents.

Increase imports



Terms of import goods sees the foreign trade statistics of more rosy: the imports were £ 15.2 billion in May by 1.0 percent. Adjusted for working days was an increase of 0.7 percent.

Striking is the large decline in imports of energy sources. This can be explained on the one hand with declining prices, on the other hand with much lower fuel and electricity imports, wrote the FCA in its communiqué. Meanwhile, the auto industry saw the tenth import decline. Overall, the Swiss trade balance in May showed a surplus of CHF 2.2 billion.