Swiss watch exports to the US plunged by more than 55 per cent in September, in what the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry Exports (FHS) described as a “huge correction”.
Foreign sales surged in the weeks before the US introduced a 39 per cent tariff on Swiss imports on 7 August, as manufacturers front-loaded shipments.
Since then exports to the US have slumped, down by 23.9 per cent in August and now by 55.6 per cent in September.
“Without this expected but nonetheless extraordinary development, Swiss watch exports would have grown by 7.8%,” the FHS said in its latest update.
Hong Kong and China both saw a marked reversal of fortunes, from double-digit declines in August to double-digit increases in September. But that wasn’t enough to outweigh the US plunge.
Total Swiss watch exports fell by 3.1 per cent during the month to CHF 2.0bn (USD 2.5bn). The UK became the single biggest buyer, with imports up 15 per cent to CHF 173m ($218m), an 8.7 per cent market share.
The overall decline took cumulative exports for the first nine months of the year to CHF 19.0bn (USD23.9bn), an overall decline of 1.2 per cent.
Source: IDEX