Switzerland’s trade surplus largest since September 2023

Switzerland reported a trade surplus in the amount of CHF 4.9 billion in June, compared to a revised up CHF 4.2 billion surplus in May.

It has been the biggest trade surplus since September 2023.

The nation’s total exports went up 1.2% month-over-month to CHF 23.3 billion, mostly because of higher shipments of vehicles (up 5%) and chemical-pharmaceutical products (up 2.9%).

At the same time, total imports dropped 2.2% month-over-month to CHF 18.3 billion, dragged down by lower purchases of raw materials (-11.2%), chemical-pharmaceutical products (-8.3%) and medical instruments & apparatus (-3.1%).

In June, Swiss exports rose mostly to Russia (43.7%), Japan (23.2%) and China (15.1%).

The Swiss Franc was little changed on the day against the Euro, with the EUR/CHF currency pair last trading at 0.9662 ahead of the outcome of the European Central Bank’s July policy meeting.

The ECB is largely expected to leave the main refinancing operations rate unchanged at 4.25% and the deposit facility rate at 3.75%, after reducing rates by 25 basis points in June.