By
AFP
Translated by
Roberta HERRERA
Printed
December 19, 2024
Swiss watch exports declined by 3.8% year-on-year in November, right down to CHF2.4 billion (€2.5 billion). The downturn affected almost all the prime 10 markets, with the US being the one exception, the Swiss Watch Federation reported on Thursday.
AFP
The decline was pushed by important decreases in exports to China and Hong Kong, which plunged 27% and 18.8% respectively in comparison with November 2023, in line with the Swiss Watch Business Federation (FH).
Exports to Japan contracted by 2.5%, and there was a “notable decline” in exports to the UK, the biggest European marketplace for Swiss watchmakers, the place exports dropped 8.3%. Equally, exports to Germany have been down 11.3%, they usually fell by 2.9% to France, and a pair of.9% to Italy—three different key European markets.
Among the many prime 10 locations for Swiss watches, solely the US posted progress, with exports rising 4.7% year-on-year.
For the primary 11 months of 2024, exports declined by 2.7% in comparison with the identical interval in 2023, and have been price CHF23.9 billion since January in complete.
After three years of sturdy progress following the COVID-19 stoop in 2020, Swiss watch exports hit a file excessive in 2023, reaching CHF26.7 billion. Nevertheless, the pattern reversed in 2024 because of a pointy drop in exports to China, the place the economic system’s slowdown, rising youth unemployment, and the true property disaster have weighed on shopper spending.
