"We see an increase in value, especially in the high end, and a rather quite stable evolution in volume, even a slight decrease in the low end"
- Jean-Daniel Pasche, president of the Swiss Watch Federation
Swiss trade surplus widened more than expected last month, posting the second biggest surplus ever recorded, boosted by the solid gain in exports. The Federal Customs Office said that country's trade surplus increased to 2.95 billion francs in November, up from 2.73 billion in the previous month. The solid gain was mostly driven by the increase in exports, as sales to Asia increased by 8.7%, shipments to the U.S. soared 21.3%, while exports to the Eurozone added only 1.1%. Overall exports rose 4% to 18.776 billion Swiss francs, while imports stood at 15.83 billion in November, down by 3.6% compared to the same period in a previous year. At the same time, Swiss watch exports for the year to November totalled 19.64 billion Swiss francs, a 12.6% jump from a year earlier.
"We see an increase in value, especially in the high end, and a rather quite stable evolution in volume, even a slight decrease in the low end," said Jean-Daniel Pasche, president of the Swiss Watch Federation.
"The worst is behind us in China with an improvement likely next year. The desirability of Swiss watches is still strong and there is no real competition for them at the high end," said Patrik Schwendimann, an analyst at Zuercher Kantonalbank.
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