Strong automotive sector output drives production growth in Jan

Based on working-day adjusted data, industrial output rose by 2.7%. The January output – according to seasonally and working-day adjusted indices – was 4.6% higher than the level of the previous month.

The volume of industrial export grew by 4.3% year-on-year. Automotive exports, representing a 37% weight within export sales in manufacturing increased by 6.5%. The export in the computer, electronic and optical products, accounting for a 16% weight, went up by 9.9%.

Industrial domestic sales decreased by 4.5%, while export sales went up by 4.9%.

Within industry, production grew by 3% in the decisive weight (94%) representing manufacturing, while it declined by 9.3% in the small weight representing mining and quarrying. The output of the energy industry rose by 2.8%

After a drop in December 2019, automotive sector output, equipment representing 31% of manufacturing output, exceeded the previous year’s level by 10.6%. The volume of manufacturing of motor vehicles went up by 19%, while the manufacture of parts and accessories for motor vehicles increased by 4.9%.

The output of the computer, electronic and optical products sector, accounting for 12% of manufacturing, grew by 8.4%. The manufacture of consumer electronics carrying a significant weight rose by 26%.

The manufacture of food products, beverages and tobacco products, having an 11% share of manufacturing, went up by 5.3% compared to the same month of the previous year, with increases measured in both sales directions.

The manufacture of rubber and plastics products, and other non-metallic mineral products decreased by 3.3%, the manufacture of basic metals and fabricated metal products dropped by 13.2%. The manufacture of electrical equipment, having a smaller weight, grew at the highest rate among the subsections, by 17.7%.

The manufacture of textiles, wearing apparel, leather and related products having the smallest weight declined by 8.8%, with decreases measured in almost every class.

The manufacture of coke, and refined petroleum products fell the most year-on-year, by 14.2%, owing to a drop in domestic sales, KSH says.

Industrial production decreased in Central Transdanubia (by 0.7%), Southern Transdanubia (by 3.1%) and Budapest (by 8%). In the other regions, volume increases of 2.4% to 10.5% were recorded. The highest increase was recorded in the Pest region.

Total new orders volume in the observed divisions of manufacturing grew by 8.6% compared to January 2019. New domestic orders declined by 2.8%, new export orders went up by 10.4%. The total stock of orders at the end of January was below the previous year’s level by 3.4%.