Hungary trade surplus widens in February, terms of trade worsen

The February surplus was up from €419 million in January and down from €860.2m in February 2011.
February exports rose 1.1% yr/yr in volume but fell 1.2% in euro terms to €6.607 billion, slightly up from the preliminary figure. This was the second euro-term drop in exports in two years after a 1.1% yr/yr decline last December.
Import volume rose 1.4% yr/yr and euro-term imports were up 1.5% in twelve months to €5.915 billion in February.
Import growth exceeded export growth in volume terms for the first time since last June while in euro terms it was over export growth now for the fourth month in a row. Both export and import growth has slowed since September 2011 after double-digit increases earlier in 2011.
The surplus in the first two months reached €1.110 billion, down from €1.292 billion one year earlier.
Two-month exports rose 3.4% in volume terms and 0.5% in euros to €12.871 billion. Two-month imports rose 2.2% in volume and 2.1% in euros to €11.762 billion.
In forint terms, export prices rose 5.2% in the twelve months to February and rose 6.7% yr/yr in January-February. Forint-term import prices were up 8.0% yr/yr in February and rose 9.9% yr/yr in January-February.
The forint weakened 7.1% to the euro and 10.5% to the US dollar in the year to February. It slipped 9.4% against the euro and 13% to the dollar to January-February from the same period last year.