How dependent is Germany on Switzerland?

A product has a dominant supplier when a single country sells more than 50% of what is bought of it; we flag it separately above 75%.

• Switzerland sells 64% of what the world exports of other wristwatches; next come China (12.7%), Japan (2.9%) and Hong Kong (2.2%). The rest of the world exported 9.8 times what Germany buys from Switzerland.
• Switzerland sells 71.1% of what the world exports of precious metal watches; next come France (4.5%), Singapore (3.2%) and United Kingdom (2.1%). The rest of the world exported 8.3 times what Germany buys from Switzerland.
• Switzerland sells 6.8% of what the world exports of antibiotics; next come China (45.7%), India (9%) and Italy (8.1%). The rest of the world exported 57.7 times what Germany buys from Switzerland.
• Switzerland sells 39.6% of what the world exports of hydrazine and hydroxylamine derivatives; next come China (18.4%), Italy (9.3%) and India (8.4%). The rest of the world exported 7.5 times what Germany buys from Switzerland.
• Switzerland sells 28.7% of what the world exports of other watch and clock parts; next come China (23.1%), France (9.8%) and Thailand (7.3%). The rest of the world exported 18.2 times what Germany buys from Switzerland.
• Switzerland sells 5.8% of what the world exports of hydraulic brake fluids; next come United States (16.3%), United Kingdom (9.3%) and France (5.3%). The rest of the world exported 15.2 times what Germany buys from Switzerland.
• Switzerland sells 5.9% of what the world exports of propellant powders; next come Canada (16.7%), United States (16.4%) and Slovakia (8%). The rest of the world exported 31.9 times what Germany buys from Switzerland.
• Switzerland sells 14.1% of what the world exports of watch cases; next come China (55.9%), Hong Kong (10.2%) and Malaysia (3.3%). The rest of the world exported 29.4 times what Germany buys from Switzerland.
• Switzerland sells 21.6% of what the world exports of watch movements; next come Japan (44.1%), China (9.7%) and Hong Kong (5.2%). The rest of the world exported 26.2 times what Germany buys from Switzerland.
• Switzerland sells 4.8% of what the world exports of complete unassembled clock or watch movements; next come Malaysia (32.1%), Japan (26.6%) and Singapore (16.9%). The rest of the world exported 160.7 times what Germany buys from Switzerland.

Exports from the rest of the world already have buyers; the figure shows scale, not availability.

Germany is Switzerland’s 1st-largest customer, with 13.2% of its exports.

• Trade between Germany and Switzerland
• Who does Germany rely on?
• Who does Switzerland rely on?
• Dependence of Germany on China
• Dependence of Germany on Norway
• Dependence of Germany on the Netherlands
• Dependence of Germany on the United States
• Dependence of Germany on Poland
• Dependence of Germany on Ireland
• Dependence of Germany on Spain
• Dependence of Germany on Italy
• Dependence of Germany on Bulgaria
• Dependence of Germany on Denmark
• Trade profile of Germany
• Trade profile of Switzerland
• All countries

Sources and licenses

• CEPII BACI · Licence Ouverte Etalab 2.0
• Natural Earth · Public domain

Methodology

The data come from CEPII BACI (Etalab 2.0 licence), which reconciles what the exporting and the importing country report, in current USD, FOB. Data up to 2024.

Dependence is the share of a country’s imports (or exports) that each partner accounts for. It does not measure whether a product has a substitute or how much it would cost to change supplier.

The concentration index (HHI) adds up the square of each partner’s share, in percent: it runs from 0 to 10,000. Its equivalent is 10,000 ÷ HHI, the number of partners of the same size that would give that value.

Products are HS4 headings of the 1992 nomenclature (some combine different goods), with a floor of $1 million per product and country.

The EU is the 27 current members in every year; the United Kingdom is outside the EU throughout the series.

Re-exports: countries that act as redistribution hubs carry their notice and the figures are not corrected.