Glimmer of hope in the MEM industries

The Swiss machinery, electrical engineering and metals (MEM) industry may have bottomed out. According to Swissmem, new orders in the first quarter were up 0.9 percent year-on-year, after five consecutive quarters of decline. The cautious upturn was solely due to an increase in orders from abroad, Swissmem warns. In terms of sales, the negative trend continued in the three months of the reporting period following the poor results of 2015:

They decreased by 8.8 percent compared to the prior-year quarter. Capacity utilization in production, for its part, fell to 86.5 percent. With this value, it still remains above the long-term average of 86.3 percent. Despite the slightly positive signals, the umbrella association is still not overly optimistic. The workforce has shrunk by 10,800 since the removal of the exchange rate floor. In the first quarter of 2016, MEM companies in the country employed just 319,400 people. (Source: Swissmem)