Swiss exports rebound in second quarter

Swiss exports set record in second quarter Keystone-SDA

After a lackluster start to the year, Swiss trade returned to a growth phase in the second quarter.

Compared to the previous three months, exports rose 6.6% to a record CHF69.2 billion (about $78.3 billion), while imports increased 2.2% percent to CHF56.7 billion.

The April-June period thus ended with a trade surplus of CHF12.4 billion, compared with CHF9.4 billion in the first quarter, data released today by the Federal Customs and Border Security Service shows. The changes shown are nominal: in real terms (i.e. adjusted for price effect) they stood at +3.5% (exports) and -0.8% (imports), respectively.

The various export sectors did not share uniform trends. By far the most important sector, chemical-pharmaceuticals, registered (at the nominal level) +11.8% (to CHF38.2 billion); followed by machinery and electronics (-0.3% to CHF8.1 billion), watchmaking (+0.4% to CHF6.6 billion), precision instruments (+2.3% to CHF4.4 billion) and metals (+0.9% to CHF3.5 billion).

Geographically, the most important continent for Swiss Made products remains Europe (+4.2% to CHF39.6 billion), with a significant contribution made by Germany (+0.5% to CHF10.5 billion), Slovenia (+10.9% to CHF5.8 billion) and Italy (+2.5 % to CHF5.2 billion). Rising sharply is North America (+20.4% to CHF15.4 billion), with the United States (+21.2% to CHF14.5 billion) strengthening its lead as the most important country for Swiss goods. There was also some growth in Asia (+3.3% to CHF14.3 billion), thanks to the contribution of China (+3.5% to CHF4.1 billion), the fifth-largest market for Swiss companies.

Also on the import front, the most important sector remains chemicals and pharmaceuticals (+8.1% to CHF19.5 billion), followed by machinery and electronics (-1.0% to CHF8.3 billion), vehicles (-4.4% to CHF5.1 billion), metals (+3.6% to CHF3.9 billion), textiles and apparel (-0.7% to CHF2.9 billion), and energy (-3.1% to CHF2.7 billion). Regarding import regions, Europe in on the ascent (+4.7% to CHF41.2 billion), while Asia (-2.9% to CHF9.9 billion) and North America (-7.2% to 3.5 billion) reported declines.

Adapted from Italian by DeepL/ac

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