The Middle East is well positioned amongst the emerging-market countries as the market for importing high end Swiss Watches. In spite of the challenges facing this industry, the rising incomes & growing prosperity in the Middle East continues to offer substantial opportunities for the luxury watch industry. These factors also influence a great deal for the imports of Swiss Watches in the Middle East. However the recent uncertainty in the market has resulted in drop in the imports of Swiss Watches in the Middle East.
AWJ has always made available facts and figures related to this industry and are now pleased to present the Swiss Watch Export analysis in the Mena region for the first two months (Jan-Feb 2017) in comparison with the same period last year.
| Swiss watch exports - (Jan-Feb 2016/2017) - MENA (All figures mln of CHF) | % change |
| | Rank | Middle East Countries | Jan-Feb 2016 | Jan-Feb 2017 | 2016/2017 |
| | 1 | United Arab Emirates | 173.30 | 145.80 | (15.9) |
| | 2 | Saudi Arabia | 59.10 | 45.50 | (23.0) |
| | 3 | Qatar | 43.30 | 44.20 | 2.1 |
| | 4 | Kuwait | 17.70 | 20.30 | 14.7 |
| | 5 | Bahrain | 10.80 | 13.70 | 26.9 |
| | 6 | Oman | 12.30 | 8.80 | (28.5) |
| | 7 | Jordan | 8.50 | 8.70 | 2.4 |
| | 8 | Lebanon | 8.20 | 10.40 | 26.8 |
| | 9 | Egypt | 7.50 | 3.60 | (52.0) |
| | 10 | Others* | 8.20 | 7.70 | (6.1) |
| | | Total | 348.90 | 308.70 | (11.5) |
* Algeria, Libya, Moroco, Tunisia, Yemen and Iraq.
According to the recent reports of the Swiss Watch Exports in the Mena Region, exports have dropped by (11.5%) for the first two months (Jan & Feb) in 2017 compared to the same period in 2016 from CHF 348.90 million in 2016 to CHF 308.70 million. While UAE maintained its ranking of 1st position in the Middle East its exports dropped by (15.9) % in Jan-Feb 2017 when compared with Jan-Feb 2016.Kingdom of Saudi Arabia remains at No. 2 with a drop in the exports by (23.%).
Qatar has moved to 3rd position with total exports amounting to CHF 44.20 with an increase of 2.10% over the same period last year. Kingdom of Bahrain is in the 5th spot with an increase of 26.9% increase in exports of Swiss Watches when compared with the period of Jan-Feb 2017 vis a vis Jan-Feb 2016. It’s notable that Lebanon has a massive increase of 26.8% in exports of Swiss Watches, whereas Egypt, Oman and other small markets has recorded a substantial drop of (52%), (28.5%) & (6.1%) respectively.
Note to readers:
Data provided by Federation of Swiss Watch Industry FH