Swiss Business Leaders Optimistic for More Sales to China in 2018

Swiss businesses in China on Tuesday reported optimistically on their prospects for the coming year after a record export year from the alpine country in 2017.

Swiss Centers China, a non-profit organization aimed at lowering market entry barriers of Swiss companies in Asia, said that China, including Hong Kong, represents the third biggest export market for Swiss products, behind Germany and the United States.

It released the results of a survey that found 72 percent of Swiss business leaders in China expect "higher" or "substantially higher" sales of goods from Switzerland to China in 2018 than in 2017.

"While Swiss exports in 2017 to key markets such as Germany, Italy and France did not yet rebound to their pre-crisis 2008 levels, exports to China grew by 66 percent from 2008 to 2017," said Swiss Centers China co-founder Nicolas Musy.