Swiss exports down slightly in May
Published: Thursday, Jun 20th 2024, 08:20
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The Swiss export industry sold slightly fewer goods abroad in May. However, the slight decline follows a very high increase in the previous month.
Exports totaled 22.81 billion Swiss francs in May, as reported by the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security (FOCBS) on Thursday. Seasonally adjusted, exports thus fell by 1.6 percent compared to the previous month. In real terms - i.e. adjusted for price changes - this resulted in a fall of 3.5 percent.
In the previous month, however, exports had skyrocketed. The decline was therefore at a high level. And the upward trend of recent months remains intact, writes the Federal Office.
Chemical and pharmaceutical pollution
In terms of product groups, exports in the month under review were primarily impacted by chemical-pharmaceutical products (-3.1%). However, these still contributed a good 54% to total exports.
Exports of machinery and electronics (-1.4%) and precision instruments (-0.4%) also fell slightly. The metal industry (+2.6%) and the watch industry (+0.7%) fared better on a seasonally adjusted basis.
From a regional perspective, all major economic areas saw fewer goods leaving Switzerland in terms of value. At -2.3%, the decline in Asia was somewhat greater than in Europe and North America (-0.8% each). Within the continents, however, the development contrasted strongly between the individual countries according to the data.
Meanwhile, imports amounted to CHF 18.68 billion in May, which corresponds to a nominal decrease of 3.8% and a real decrease of 4.3%. Among other things, car imports fell by 153 million.
The surplus in the trade balance thus amounted to CHF 4.13 billion after CHF 3.77 billion in the previous month.
©Keystone/SDA
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