SWITZERLAND. Shares in Swatch Group, the world’s biggest watch company, rose today after the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry (FH) reported strong growth in September exports, pointing to an upturn after weakness earlier this year.
September watch exports rose +7.9% in value terms on the year, the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry said.
“The trend has turned,” it said, adding that a further strengthening of the recovery is expected throughout the rest of the year.
However exports valued in Swiss Francs for the first nine months of 2003 overall remained down -5.2%. In particular sales to Asia were down -5.1%, Europe -6.6%, Latin America -16.8% and the Middle East -7.1%. Eastern Europe (+21.5%) and North America (+1.2%) have been showing a stronger return to growth in January to September.
The US overtook Hong Kong as the number one importer of Swiss watches.
In terms of the major markets, watch exports to China were up in the first nine months by +158.3% and in the US (+1.8%) Thailand (+8.9%), Taiwan (+3.7%), the UK (+3.5%) and Russia (+19.4%). Hong Kong (-8.2%), Japan (-8.5%), Italy (-13.0%), France (-10.0%) and Germany (-11.6%) were all down.
Swiss production of finished watches dominates the global market with 28.3 million pieces in 2002. With an increase of 500,000 pieces (+1.8%) this result put an end to the previous eight years of falling output, according to FH statistics. The value of these products was CHF10.6 billion (US$7.8 billion) and was up +0.4% against 2001.
Richemont, the world’s second biggest luxury goods group and also a big player in the watch sector, also saw its shares rise this week.
