The Swiss machine, metal and electrical industries are increasingly doing business in the new euro currency, and the vast majority of the companies involved believe that the euro business will continue to increase in the future.

The Swiss machine, metal and electrical industries are increasingly doing business in the new euro currency, and the vast majority of the companies involved believe that the euro business will continue to increase in the future.

These are the main findings of a poll of 276 members of SWISSMEM, the newly restructured Swiss Association of Machine, Electrical and Metal industries.

The three industrial sectors account for most of Switzerlands exports and employ more than 325,000 people.

Since more than half of all their exports go to the 11 European Union countries that introduced the single currency in January, Swiss industries are increasingly affected by the new euro-dominated financial transactions.

Following are some of the key findings of the poll:

-- Since January 1999, 12 percent of companies have issued their bills in euros. 86 percent were written out in Swiss francs and 20 percent in other currencies.

-- 60 percent of SWISSMEM members says short-term advantages outweigh the disadvantages of the euro. 80 percent say there are more advantages than disadvantages in a medium to long-term perspective.

-- 34 percent say euro billing has increased steadily in the first six months of euro-based trading. 82 percent of the companies polled believe that their business in euros will increase in the medium term.

-- 73 percent predict that they will write fewer and fewer bills in Swiss francs.

SWISSMEM member described their overall experiences with the currency as good but noted that there were some difficulties in the marketing sector, financial transactions and account management.

The association’s management also announced Friday that it was now marketing itself under the name of SWISSMEM, formally marking the streamlined organisation and management of what used to be until very recently two separate bodies.

From staff and wire reports.

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