Swiss watch exports posted their biggest quarterly export drop since 2009 in the third quarter of the year as plummeting sales in Hong Kong and China spread to other Asian markets last month.
“After May and July, September is the third month to show a marked decline in Swiss watch exports,” the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry said in a statement yesterday.
Watch exports were down a real 8.5 percent for the third quarter after falling 9.9 percent year-on-year last month and 10 percent in July, the Federal Customs Office said.
Sales in Asia declined 12.7 percent last month from a year ago, as continued drops in Hong Kong, China and Singapore were compounded by sharp turnarounds in Taiwanese and Emirati sales, and a dive in South Korean sales from minus-3.7 percent in August to minus-35 percent last month.
Analysts at Kepler Cheuvreux said the poor performance could be pegged to tough comparables in the previous year and the continuing effects of a deadly virus outbreak earlier this year.
At 1.814 billion Swiss francs (US$1.91 billion), last month’s watch sales abroad significantly undershot analysts’ expectations, posting declines that were double to triple what analysts had forecast.
Timepieces in all price segments were impacted, but watches in the low to mid-segment took the biggest hit. The 200 to 500 franc export category slipped 14.5 percent, igniting concerns that the Apple Watch could finally be taking a bite out of the Swiss industry’s stake.
On Friday last week, Bank Vontobel released a sector report highlighting Swatch Group’s particular smartwatch exposure, with its mid-range brand Tissot and lower range own label, Swatch.
“Swatch Group is the only [Swiss] player which also has a strong position in low to mid-end segments,” Vontobel said. “Swatch Group has a market share of 60-65 percent in the low to mid-end [accounting for 25 percent of sales].”
Last week, Swatch launched its first payment watch in China, beating Apple.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day