Breathing machines: Hungary signed the worst deal with China from Europe?

Péter Szijjártó said in parliament that not only police officers, healthcare workers, and teachers did well during the coronavirus epidemic but also the government which bought protective equipment to baulk the spread of the virus in time. “There were tragedies in other countries, but we acted in time, and the airlift between Hungary and China worked,” he added. However, Hungary seems to have signed the worst deal regarding the issue in Europe. Details below.

444 says that Hungary pays the most money for breathing machines per kilogram. For example, Germany pays only 1/50th of the Hungarian sum for the same products. Even the government acknowledged that it was hard to buy breathing machines and other protective equipment. A state secretary from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that they bought a lof of such equipment, so Hungary had to pay a lot for them. However, European countries which bought even more than Hungary paid a much better price.

Hungary bought 6,000 machines from a Malaysian company for more than HUF 170 billion (EUR 477.75 million), which 444 says was a lot. Péter Szijjártó said that even though EU member countries continuously criticised China, they did everything to buy protective equipment there.

Based on the data of Eurostat, we know how many kilograms of products a country imported or exported and how much they paid or received for them.

Hungary paid EUR 482 million for 567.5 tons of goods between March and June.

A state secretary said before that even though Hungary ordered products in large quantities, it did not receive a price reduction. However, Eurostat data says that this was not true, for example, for Germany and the Netherlands, which bought more kilograms but cheaper.

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Germany bought 2 times as many products than Hungary (1014.3 tons) but paid only EUR 30.7 million. In the case of the Netherlands, these numbers are 582.3 tons and EUR 13.7 million.

Italy bought 551.8 tons but paid only 1/10th of the Hungarian money spent.

Based on the calculations of 444, Hungary pays the most money for one kilogram of protective equipment: EUR 1,410. The second-highest price is in Slovenia: 373 EUR/kg. Interestingly, in Slovenia, there is a government crisis because of the overpriced protective equipment the country bought. 

Foreign secretary Tamás Menczer said that Hungary ordered 16 thousand breathing machines in order to get at least 10 thousand. The foreign ministry now said that

15,825 arrived in Hungary by August, and their average price was EUR 57.106.

More than 6,000 came from a Malaysian company (GR Technologies) while the second-biggest shipment arrived from Slovakia (more than 1,000). Furthermore, some companies shipped lower quantities of breathing machines.

Tamás Menczer said that the government would sell the breathing machines that are not needed in Hungary. He added that there are already enquiring companies and governments from Asia and Africa. Based on the data of Eurostat, until May, Hungary exported breathing machines to Poland, Romania, and Germany for a bit less than EUR 1 million.

Source: 444.hu