After a lackluster start to the year, Swiss trade returned to a growth phase in the second quarter. Compared to the previous three months, exports rose 6.6% to a record CHF69.2 billion (about $78.3 billion), while imports increased 2.2% percent to CHF56.7 billion. The April-June period thus ended with a trade surplus of CHF12.4 billion, compared with CHF9.4 billion in the first quarter, data released today by the Federal Customs and Border Security Service shows. The changes shown are nominal: in real terms (i.e. adjusted for price effect) they stood at +3.5% (exports) and -0.8% (imports), respectively. The various export sectors did not share uniform trends. By far the most important sector, chemical-pharmaceuticals, registered (at the nominal level) +11.8% (to CHF38.2 billion); followed by machinery and electronics (-0.3% to CHF8.1 billion), watchmaking (+0.4% to CHF6.6 billion), precision instruments (+2.3% to CHF4.4 billion) and metals (+0.9% to CHF3.5 billion). Geographically ...
