Swiss watch exports are expected to decline in 2020 due to the impact of the coronavirus on business development in the sector. “We anticipate a fall of about 25 to 30%,” said Thursday to AWP the president of the Federation of the watchmaking industry, Jean-Daniel Pasche, after the general meeting of the umbrella held without physical presence of its members, due to health measures linked to the pandemic. In the first five months of the year, the industry’s foreign shipments fell 35.8% to 5.7 billion francs. Over the next few months, the situation should gradually begin to improve, as the watch and jewelry stores are once again open. However, challenges such as the absence of tourists, notably Chinese and American in Europe for example, will complicate the restart. “The overall situation remains difficult and the market is slowly recovering. The recovery will also depend on consumer confidence and the evolution of the pandemic, “said the president. According to him, the rebound will not be as marked as the fall. The recovery promises to be fairly gradual and more spread out over time.
Production starts again
Concerning the production of the factories, Jean-Daniel Pasche noted that most of the watchmakers had resumed their activities. “Not necessarily 100% because of the sanitary measures to respect,” he said before adding that the situation varied a lot from one brand to another. As in the financial crisis, subcontractors in the watch sector are the first to suffer the consequences of this pandemic on their businesses and the last to recover, noted the FH. Some of the suppliers of watch brands, such as Neuchâtel Gilbert Petit-Jean, have already had to lay off workers because of the sharp slowdown in sales. / ats-oza
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