(26.07.2023) The total value of products exported by the MEM industry has seen relatively little growth in the last 25 years. While the sector accounted for 46.4% of Switzerland's total exports in 1998, it has decreased to only 26% in 2022, according to the Federal Statistical Office (OFS).
In absolute numbers, however, the machinery, precision instruments, metals, and vehicles (MEM) industry continued to have significant exports. In 2022, Swiss MEM equipment sales abroad amounted to 72.3 billion francs, compared to 50.5 billion a quarter of a century earlier.
However, the sector's exports have been much less dynamic compared to the overall Swiss economy. Between 2000 and 2009, the MEM industry lost an average of 3.1% market share per year in total Swiss products sold abroad. Between 2009 and 2022, this erosion slightly slowed to 2.3% per year. Among the subcategories of the sector, machinery and electronics lost the most importance, representing 29.3% of exports in 1998 compared to 11.9% in 2022, nearly three times less.
Despite this, the revenues of this subcategory increased in absolute numbers, rising from 31.92 billion to 33.11 billion francs (+1.19 billion) over 25 years. In parallel, Swiss total exports recorded an average annual growth of 4% – almost 20 times higher than the growth rate of the machinery and electronics category. In 2022, this specialized field imported more products than it exported, resulting in a trade deficit of 3.2 billion francs.
On the other hand, the exports of the precision instruments subcategory – amounting to nearly 6.19 billion francs in 1998 – recorded an average annual growth of 4.6%, reaching 18.11 billion in 2022. This is the only one of the four subcategories in the MEM industry to have increased its share in Swiss exports over the last quarter-century.
Last modification 26.07.2023
