Watch exports fall in February for the first time in a long time
Published: Tuesday, Mar 19th 2024, 09:50
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After record exports last year and a good start to 2024, the upward trend in the watch industry came to a halt in February. However, the industry had benefited from a strong recovery in China a year ago. The bar was set at a high level in this important sales market.
In February 2024, Swiss watch manufacturers sold fewer watches abroad compared to the same month last year. In terms of value, watch exports fell by 3.8% to 2.15 billion Swiss francs, as reported by the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security (FOCBS) and the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry (FH) on Tuesday. In January, exports had still increased by 3 percent.
This was the first time since July of last year that exports were in the red. Otherwise, a continuous increase was observed throughout 2023, which ultimately led to a record-high export volume of CHF 26.7 billion.
Decline in China and Hong Kong
Swiss watch exports suffered a clear decline for the first time in a long time, the watch association wrote in its communiqué. This was primarily due to unfavorable base effects in the Greater China region. A year ago, there were strong signs of recovery in the watch business following the lifting of the coronavirus measures.
Last month, watch exports to China fell significantly by a quarter and those to Hong Kong by a fifth. By contrast, exports to the USA, the largest sales market, recorded a further increase (+5.5%), while more timepieces were also exported to Japan (+5.6%), Singapore (+3.3%), the United Arab Emirates (+8.9%) and France (+6.1%).
In terms of price categories, the decline was most pronounced in the segment with unit prices of 500 to 3,000 francs. The export volume in February fell by 14 percent in Swiss franc terms. In contrast, the decline in expensive watches (over CHF 3,000) and in the budget segment (under CHF 200) was limited at 0.4 and 1.8 percent respectively.
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