Exports dropped 0.5 percent from a month earlier to CHF 18.9 billion in May, dragged down by sales of chemical and pharmaceutical products (-2.4 percent); food, beverages and tobacco (-2.5 percent), and metals (-1.3 percent). By contrast, sales increased for machinery and electronics (2.7 percent); watchmaking (8.9 percent); precision instruments (4.0 percent), and jewellery (8.8 percent).
Among major trade partners, exports declined to the US (-1.0 percent); Spain (-10.2 percent); the Netherlands (-2.3 percent); Ireland (-18.2 percent); Austria (-26.7 percent); Singapore (-0.7 percent), and South Korea (-4.2 percent). Meantime, there were increases in exports to China (8.8 percent); Japan (10.3 percent); Germany (2.2 percent); France (2.6 percent), and Italy (5.6 percent).
Imports increased 0.9 percent to CHF 17.2 billion, mainly due to higher purchases of pharmaceutical products (5.3 percent); vehicles (0.8 percent), and metals (2.0 percent). On the other hand, imports decreased for: machinery and electronics (-1.8 percent); jewellery (-8.6 percent); textiles, clothing, footwear (-0.1 percent), and food, beverages and tobacco (-8.3 percent)
Among major trade partners, imports rose from the US (14.7 percent); Ireland (49.9 percent); Belgium 17.6 percent); Austria (8.9 percent), and France (9.7 percent); while imports went down from Japan (-6.9 percent); China (-3.6 percent); Germany (-0.4 percent); Italy (-1.2 percent), and Spain (-19.9 percent).
Considering the first five months of the year, the trade surplus widened to CHF 9.2 billion from CHF 6.8 billion in the same period of 2018.