Swiss trade ails despite recovery signs

ZURICH, July 21, 2009 (AFP) - Key Swiss industrial exports such as watches are still struggling on foreign markets despite hints of a recovery in Switzerland's foreign trade in recent weeks, official data showed Thursday 22 October.

The economic crisis wiped out one-sixth of the value of the country's exports and imports over the first nine months of the year, the federal customs office said in a statement.

Switzerland's trade surplus over the period fell by 6.1 percent year-on-year to 14.44 billion Swiss francs (9.55 billion euros, 14.29 billion dollars).

Exports fell by 15.3 percent to 133 billion Swiss francs, while imports fell 16.3 percent to 119 billion francs compared to the first nine months of last year.

But a breakdown of figures showed that the trade surplus grew by 7.4 percent in the third quarter to 5.79 billion francs after tumbling for the two previous quarters.

Declines in overall exports and imports eased slightly in September, the customs office said.

However, the Swiss watchmakers federation said that watch exports fell back to 2006 levels in September to 1.1 billion francs, wiping out the gains of recent boom years.

Swiss watch exports fell by 25.9 percent over the first nine months of 2009 to 8.1 billion francs, while metals were the hardest hit sector with a 35.9 percent drop in exports.

Overall exports towards the European Union, Switzerland's biggest trade partner, suffered the most, declining by more than 18 percent over nine months, nearly twice the rate of decline in exports to Asia.