Hungarian Industrial Production Falls in January, KSH Confirms

The volume of industrial export was 6.3% lower than a year earlier. Transport equipment export, representing a 31% weight within export sales in manufacturing fell by 9.3%, the manufacture of electrical equipment export, accounting for a 14% weight, dropped by 10.8%.

Domestic sales of industry declined by 1%, and those of manufacturing decreased by 0.7% compared to the same month of the previous year.

Within industry, production decreased by 4.4% in the decisive weight (93%) representing manufacturing, at the same time the output grew by 25% in the small weight representing mining and quarrying, and it rose by 2.4% in the energy industry (electricity, gas, steam, and air-conditioning supply)

Transport Equipment Production Drops

The manufacture of transport equipment, representing 25% of the manufacturing production (having the largest weight), declined by 4.7% compared to the same month of the previous year. Motor vehicles manufacturing fell by 11.9%, while the manufacture of parts and accessories for motor vehicles rose by 1.6%.

The manufacture of electrical equipment, having a 12% weight in manufacturing, decreased by 1.3% year-on-year. Out of the two largest weight representing groups the volume in the manufacture of batteries and accumulators grew by 3.2%, at the same time the manufacture of electric motors, generators, transformers and electricity distribution and control apparatus dropped by 6.1%.

KSH says that the manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products, accounting for 9% within manufacturing, lagged behind the most – out of the subsections – by 18.7% compared to the same month of the previous year. Out of the two largest groups, the manufacture of electronic components and boards dropped by 28%, the manufacture of consumer electronics declined by 19.1%.

The manufacture of food products, beverages and tobacco products, having a 13% share in manufacturing, was 7.6% higher year-on-year, sales increased in both directions. Processing and preserving meat and the production of meat products, representing the largest weight (23%), went up by 13.8% compared to the same month of the previous year. Production increased between 2.2% and 31% in other six groups, to the greatest extent in the manufacture of grain mill products, starches and starch products, least of all in the manufacture of prepared animal feeds. Output declined only in four groups, (between 3.5% and 5.8%), at the highest rate in the manufacture of dairy products.

Similarly to the previous month, the manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products grew the most, by 9.4%, in spite of the fact that both domestic and export sales declined.

Contrary to the increase the previous month the manufacture of chemicals and chemical products dropped in January by 6.3% year-on-year.

Out of the two medium-weight representing subsections the manufacture of rubber and plastics products, and other non-metallic mineral products fell by 6.5%, the manufacture of basic metals and fabricated metal products declined by 1.8% compared to the same month of the previous year.

Only 2 Regions Register Growth

Industrial production grew in Southern Transdanubia (by 10.1%) and in Pest region (by 3.9%). In the other regions, volume decreases between 3.4% and 10.3% were recorded, the highest one in the Southern Great Plain.

The volume of total new orders in the observed divisions of manufacturing was 5.1% lower compared to January 2023. New domestic orders declined by 4.7%, new export orders dropped by 5.1%. The total stock of orders at the end of January was below the previous year’s level by 16.2%.