Hungary’s industrial output dropped by an annual 3.4 pc – update

Industrial output in Hungary dropped by an annual 3.4 percent in October, according to a first reading of data published by the Central Statistical Office (KSH) on Tuesday.

Output fell by 2.7 percent, based on data adjusted for the number of working days.

Month on month, it was 0.3 percent higher, according to seasonally and working day-adjusted data.

The car sector, Hungary’s biggest manufacturing component, saw a big fall in output on the back of the global chip shortage,

while output of computers, electronics and optical equipment also shrank.

• read also: Chips shortage reached Hungary

Other production sectors such as food, drink and tobacco, saw output gains.

In the Jan-Oct period, output grew by an annual 10.8 percent

Analysts told MTI that a shortage of components, especially semiconductors, hit vehicle manufacturing and electronics hardest, and any improvements here were unlikely until the middle of next year. This in turn is expected to weigh down economic growth, they said.

Gergely Suppán of Takarékbank said that had chip supply not been an issue, then the volume of industrial output could have exceeded the current figure by 9-12 percent, but as it is output has fallen back to below pre-epidemic levels.