Pursuits
Swiss Watch Exports Have Worst Year Since Financial Crisis
- Shipments decline 9.9% in 2016 as Hong Kong market shrinks
- Watch federation expects market to stabilize in 2017
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Swiss watch exports fell 9.9 percent in 2016, the biggest drop in seven years, as high-end timepieces went unsold on retailers’ shelves in Hong Kong, the industry’s largest market.
Exports declined to 19.4 billion francs ($19.4 billion) in December, the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry said in a statement Thursday. The annual decline is the worst performance since exports fell 22 percent in 2009 in the wake of the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and the subprime mortgage crisis.