Retail trade Watch exports also fall in November
The Swiss watch industry is not coming out of its slump. Fewer timepieces were sold abroad in November than in the previous year.
19.12.2024, 08:07
19.12.2024, 08:29
SDA
Exports in the sector fell by 3.8 percent year-on-year to 2.41 billion Swiss francs in November, as reported by the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry (FH) on Thursday. Over the first eleven months, exports totaled 23.9 billion Swiss francs. This represents a drop of 2.7 percent.
Once again, the Chinese market was a major negative factor with a drop of 27 percent. The consumer crisis that has been evident there for several months is also having an impact on the watch sector. The "Middle Kingdom" is now only the fifth most important export market for Swiss watch manufacturers, accounting for 6.3% of exports.
Sales to Hong Kong also failed to make any headway, falling almost 19 percent below the same month last year. Fewer watches were also sold to Singapore (-6.1 percent) and Japan (-2.5 percent).
However, the unbroken strong growth of 4.7 percent in the USA, by far the largest sales market with a share of 17.5 percent, remains a ray of hope. More "Made in Switzerland" timepieces were also sold to South Korea (+22%), Spain (+34%) and Mexico (+6.9%).
The decline affected all price segments. The value of watches with an export price of less than 500 francs fell by 6.1%. In the CHF 500 to CHF 3000 segment, the decline was even more pronounced at minus 15 percent. In contrast, exports in the most expensive segment of 3,000 francs and above fell by just 0.9 percent.
