Give credit to the Swiss watch industry for not sugarcoating export figures for 2015. When considering the robust growth of the industry during the prior five years, it’s not that bad.
The industry reported that the value of Swiss watch industry exports fell 3.3 percent to 21.5 billion Swiss francs ($21.75 billion) in 2015. This followed five years of growth totaling more than 20 percent.
François Thiébaud, president of the Baselworld Swiss Exhibitors Committee, presented the figures during the annual press conference Wednesday at Baselworld, the world’s largest watch and jewelry fair. The eight-day international show officially begins Thursday.
He, along with Sylvie Ritter, managing director of Baselworld, described the current environment as “gloomy,” due to various economic and geopolitical issues around the world. This includes the turbulence in the Chinese economy, conflicts in the Middle East and the slowing of the Russian economy because of Western economic sanctions. The Chinese economic problems resulted in a drastic decline in the sale of watches in Hong Kong, the world’s largest market for the Swiss watch industry.
Perhaps the biggest issue was the depegging of the Swiss franc to the Euro in January 2015, which led to an approximate 20 percent appreciation of the franc compared to other currencies, Thiébaud said.
[“Source-forbes”]