Switzerland’s trade surplus expands in March

Switzerland reported a trade surplus in the amount of CHF 2.8 billion in March, compared to a revised up CHF 2.3 billion surplus in February.

The nation’s total exports went down 0.6% month-over-month to CHF 21.1 billion, mostly because of lower shipments of jewelry (-37.2%), clocks (-1.5%), precision instruments (-1.5%) and food and beverages (-1.4%).

At the same time, total imports shrank 3.3% month-over-month to CHF 18.2 billion, mostly reflecting lower purchases of jewelry (-18.1%), clocks (-6.6%), chemical-pharmaceutical products (-6%) as well as energy products (-5.8%).

In March, Swiss exports decreased the most to UAE (-26.4%), Hong Kong (-26.1%), Singapore (-21.7%) and Saudi Arabia (-16.9%).

Swiss imports dropped the most from Saudi Arabia (-87.6%), Singapore (-33%), Japan (-32.9%) and South Korea (-24.1%), data by the Federal Customs Administration showed.

The Swiss Franc was 0.10% firmer on the day against the US Dollar, with the USD/CHF currency pair last trading at 0.9098. The Swiss currency had advanced to 0.9081 per dollar after the trade data release.