Mar 21, 2018

Swiss Watch Exports Up 12.9% in February

Strong demand from the top three markets, Hong Kong, USA and China, helped the Swiss watch export industry take forward the strong growth it had registered at the start of the year. Exports rose by 12.9% during February 2018 as compared to the same month a year earlier, the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH said in a statement released this week, adding that total watch exports for the month reached 1.7 billion francs, bettering even the level reached in January this year.

Exports to Hong Kong reached CHF 255.2 million, registering a 35.7% year-on-year growth, while those to USA at CHF 186.7 million (+26.3%) and China at CHF 131 million (+21.7%) also bettered the global average. The next three markets Japan at CHF 99.3 (+7.1%), Germany at CHF 89.6 (+6.0%) and Singapore at CHF 85.7 (+7.1%) also performed well.

Continuing the trend of strong performance across the main material categories, February saw sharp rises in exports of watches made of precious metals, steel, bimetal and other metals both in volume and value terms. Only watches made of other materials reported a decline in volumes despite a strong rise in value.

The Federation also said that growth extended to all price segments led by watches priced at between 500 and 3,000 francs (export price) whose value was up by 19.3%. Timepieces priced at over 3,000 francs (+12.9%) fell within the average range. Products costing less than 200 francs achieved 7.8% growth after falling sharply for more than one year.