Swiss industry is reeling from the slowdown it experienced in the first half of the year.
While the sector's revenues were remained at the level of the first half of 2022 (0.7%), exports fell by 1.1%. New orders fell by 9.6%, leaving little room for optimism in the months ahead, Swissmem reported on Tuesday in an interim report.
The high value of the Swiss franc is penalising Swiss companies internationally, even though the global economic situation has deteriorated. As a result, purchasing managers' indices (PMI) are at low levels in a number of countries, according to the umbrella organisation, which now includes other sectors such as sensor technology, photonics, robotics, additive manufacturing and industrial IT in addition to the machinery, electrical equipment and metals (MEM industries).
The downward trend intensified in the second half of the year, when orders fell by 14.3% and sales by 3.4%. Large companies were more exposed to the difficulties than small and medium-sized ones, Swissmem points out.
Capacity utilisation stood at 88.2%, which is above the long-term average. This is attributable both to companies' full order books and to the rise in the number of employees in the sector, which now stands at 329,900.