GENEVA: Figures released by Switzerland’s Customs Administration here the other day showed that the confederation sold almost 217 million Swiss francs (CHF) worth of arms to foreign countries during the first half of the year.
Representing more than a 30 million CHF increase compared to the first six months of 2014, statistics show that Germany remained the top importer of Swiss military material, with over 63 million CHF accounted for by Switzerland’s northern neighbor.
The confederation’s second largest arms importer was Indonesia, which bought over 32 million CHF worth of equipment over the last six months, compared to only 245 CHF in 2014’s first semester.
Similarly, Brazil significantly increased its orders from the confederation with over 12.5 million CHF imported by the South American country, compared to only 760 CHF over the same period last year.
While these countries reported substantial increases in Swiss arms imports, Sweden, France and Russia registered marked decreases in the amount of military material imported from Switzerland.
