Swiss Industrial Output Falls Most in 6 Years
2026-05-21 06:48
By
Kyrie Dichosa
1 min. read
Industrial production in Switzerland declined by 7.1% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026, following a downwardly revised 0.4% fall in the previous period and steeper than the expected 0.5% drop.
This also marks the largest decline since the second quarter of 2020, as output in manufacturing fell for the first time in two years (-7.2% vs 0.9% in Q4), particularly in the manufacture of pharmaceutical products (-20.4% vs 2.8%) and vehicles (-15.0% vs -19.1%).
These declines were partially offset by higher output in metal products (8.8% vs 3.5%) and computer equipment and watches (6.6% vs 1.0%).
Activity also continued to decline in energy supply (-6.9% vs -12.9%).
In contrast, output growth accelerated in mining and extraction (3.7% vs 3.0%).
On a seasonally adjusted quarterly basis, industrial activity went down by 1.6%, following a 2.9% drop in the prior period.
Meanwhile, industrial output including construction fell 6.1%, after rising just 0.1% in the previous quarter.