Emmental remains the favourite outside Switzerland (photo: ©2010 SCM)

Update 20:00  Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The year 2009 is adding up to an odd one for Swiss consumption and exports: chocolate consumption was down, but the sale of Swiss cheese rose by 1.6 percent despite a 25 percent fall in the US market, and the sale of weapons also rose, by 0.8 percent.

The CHF727.7 million in weapons sales represents 0.39 percent of total exports and is a record high figure for Switzerland.

Cheese sales figures published Wednesday 10 February show a startling change: for the first time, the Swiss are eating more Gruyere than Emmental. Emmental, with its famous Swiss cheese holes, remains the most exported cheese, reports 20 Minutes. Swiss cheesemakers exported more than 62,000 tons, with increased sales to neighbours Germany, France and Italy in particular

Weapons were delivered to Western countries that included Germany, Belgium, the UK and Denmark, to the tune of CHF215m, but a CHF132m order for partial delivery of air defense systems was delivered to Saudi Arabia. The order was placed in 2006, but in 2009 the Swiss Federal Council decided that no new orders would be taken from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Pakistan, and that earlier orders would be subject to some restrictions.

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