Retail trade Watch exports fall significantly in September

Measured in Swiss francs, Swiss watch manufacturers exported significantly fewer watches abroad in September compared to the same month last year. The reason for this was a slump in demand in the important Asian markets.

Swiss watch exports fell by 12.4 percent year-on-year to 2.05 billion Swiss francs in September, as reported by the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry (FH) on Thursday. Over the first nine months, exports totaled 19.2 billion Swiss francs. That is a drop of 2.7 percent.

After a brief respite in the summer months, September saw the sharpest decline this year, the association wrote. The slowdown in China and Hong Kong alone was responsible for two thirds of the decline.

Slump in China and Hong Kong

The consumer crisis in China, which has been evident for several months, was reflected with full force in the September watch export statistics. Exports to China fell by almost 50 percent to 128.8 million Swiss francs and those to Hong Kong by almost 35 percent to 128.9 million.

However, watch exports to other, predominantly Asian markets were also weak. There were double-digit percentage declines to South Korea (-20%), Taiwan (-30%), Thailand (-35%) and Singapore (-14%), as well as to the UK (-11%).

In contrast, the slight growth in the USA, the largest sales market (+2.4% to 353.0 million), was a ray of hope. Exports also increased to Japan (+2.0%), Germany (+5.7%) and Spain (+5.3%).

In terms of price categories, the middle segment with export prices of between CHF 500 and CHF 3000 per watch saw the sharpest decline at -33%. However, the two lower segments with watches priced between 200 and 500 francs and below 200 francs also performed weakly (-21% each). Exports in the most expensive segment above CHF 3,000 per watch fell by 7.3%.

SDA