FH has come out with the rather bleak export data for March, stating ‘Swiss watch exports fell sharply in March, decreasing by 21.9% to 1.4 billion francs’. The real news here is not the 21.9% drop however. The real news is that this is considered sunny and warm weather compared to the storm that is being projected for April.
Prepare for some serious hangovers in May. Note that total volume numbers were near-apocalyptic in nature as there was a total drop in volume with a whopping -43.1%.
‘Steel watches saw one of the steepest declines in value, with a significant impact on the overall result, along with watches made from precious metals. Volumes were also affected by the negative performance of steel watches, which fell by almost half. The number of watches exported fell by almost 700,000 in March, producing an unprecedented monthly figure of 900,000 units.’
As mentioned, these are likely to look like great results when we will be looking at the April export data which are projected to be far worse.
And that's the good news!