The recovery of Swiss watch exports is confirmed again. The data for October on the export of the Red Cross indicate a decisive advance compared to a year earlier, but also a progress compared to two years ago. As in recent months, the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry (Fh) also prefers to underline the comparison with 2019 in the case of October and the first ten months of 2021, given that 2020 was marked by unusual contractions linked to the explosion of the pandemic .
In October, the export of Swiss timepieces was 2.1 billion francs (2 billion euros at current exchange rates), the highest monthly figure in the last seven years, with an increase of 4.8% compared to the same month in 2019 (compared to 2020, the increase is 12.5%). As for the first ten months of 2021, exports amounted to 18.2 billion francs (17.4 billion euros), with an increase of 1.4% compared to the same period of 2019 (compared to 2020 progress is 36.5%).
The high levels of the month of October were reached thanks to the clocks of high range, with an export price of over 3,000 francs. In fact, this range recorded an increase in value of 14.5% compared to the same month of 2019. All the other bands (medium-high, medium, basic) instead recorded a negative sign when compared with the two-year figures. does. Confirming the different speeds of recovery between the various segments, which is also underlined by the Fh, there is also the new decline in the overall exported pieces. Fewer pieces but more turnover, with the prevalence of high-end products.
On the side of the outlet markets, the confirmation of the two main drivers is to be recorded, United States and China, with the stars and stripes market winning first place both for October and for the first ten months of 2021. This is the trend in October for the first ten markets, still compared to 2019: USA + 35.6% , China + 23%, Hong Kong -9.7%, Japan + 1.3%, United Kingdom -2.3%, Singapore + 11.6%, Germany -6%, United Arab Emirates + 13.1%, Italy -9.6%, France -28.3%. In the top ten only Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates have a negative sign compared to the same month of 2020, while all the others, including Italy, record progress.
Looking at the first ten months of this year, this is the picture of the ten largest markets, with the changes compared to 2019: USA + 27%, China + 55.5%, Hong Kong -22.7%, Japan -13.2%, United Kingdom -6.7%, Singapore + 2.3%, Germany -7.5%, United Arab Emirates + 1.4%, France -15.7%, Italy -11.6%. In comparison with the same period of 2020, all the markets of the top ten, including Italy, are clearly positive.