Swiss Trade Surplus Widens

Exports from Switzerland rose year on year by a real, work-day adjusted 0.6% in July to 19.1 billion Swiss francs ($19.8 billion), the Federal Customs Office said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Overall Switzerland ran a merchandise trade surplus of 3.51 billion Swiss francs in July. Watch exports rose 3.6% year on year in nominal terms to 1.70 billion francs. Watch exports to Hong Kong climbed 16.8%. Exports to the US gained 1.4% and that to China surged 22.3%. Exports declined by real 1.7% month-on-month in July, larger than the 1.3% decrease seen in June. Likewise, imports slid 1% versus 0.7% decrease in June.