Second month of quasi-paralysis for Swiss watchmaking
Following the very steep decline in April (-81.3%), Swiss watch exports continued to slow down in May. The value of exports was 655.6 million francs, a fall of 67.9% compared with May 2019. Overall, exports have fallen by 35.8% over the first five months of the year. All price segments fell by an identical amount, in both value and volume terms. The performance of the main markets fell by more than half compared with a year ago, across the board. The United States (-79.2%), Japan (-74.2%), France (-76.7%), Singapore (-74.8%) and the United Kingdom (-76.7%) were among the countries that fell by more than the average. While China (-54.6%) outperformed other countries for the second month in a row, it did not stand out to the same extent as in April and recorded a sharp decline.