According to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry, the month of December saw a recovery for the Swiss watch industry exports, although the total exports for the month was negative, the industry saw the value of its exports lose (4.6%) compared to December 2015 which stood at 1.7 billion francs.
There was an increase in the number of pieces exported which showed signs of recovery in the second half, however the trends remained distinctly negative overall due to the decline in the exports of the higher range value watches.
In the Middle East Oman showed a massive growth of 328.6% followed by Lebanon at 53.5% and Kuwait also had a marginal growth of 1.2%. However UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar experienced a decline in Swiss Watch Exports of (15.4%), (29.2%), (25.3%) respectively.
Hong Kong with a highest market share of 12.6% fell by more than (15.7%), USA achieved an increase of 10.9% with a sustained growth and a market share of 10.8%. China also recorded an increase of 27.6% with a market share of 8.4%, Japan showed a positive increase of 3.9% with a market share of 6%.
United Kingdom, Singapore recorded a decline. Also the top two European markets: Italy and France also did not achieve the same performance and the downturn was clearly visible with a drop of (18.6%) & (11.9%) respectively.