Hungary July trade surplus revised upward to EUR 668 m

Budapest, September 30 (MTI) – Hungary’s trade surplus came to 668 million euros in July, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) said in a second reading of data released on Friday.

The surplus was revised minimally upwards from 662 million euros in a first reading published on September 8.

Import volume was down by an annual 2 percent. In euro terms, import fell by 6.4 percent to 6.598 billion euros in July. Exports were down by 3.4 percent in volume and by 5.4 percent in euro terms to 7.266 billion euros.

The trade surplus rose by 31 million euros from a year earlier in July.

About 79 percent of Hungary’s imports came from other European Union countries during the month just as 79 percent of its exports went to EU member states.

A breakdown by sectors calculated with euro values showed that in July exports of the machinery and vehicles segment fell by 3.9 percent while imports of the segment decreased by 6.6 percent from a year earlier.

Food industry exports were down by 5.5 percent while imports of food products fell by 1.3 percent. Manufactured goods exports decreased by 6.4 percent and imports were down by 4.7 percent. Energy imports were down by 17.1 percent and energy exports fell by 30.1 percent.

In July, Hungary had a 508 million euro trade surplus with members of the EU and a 160 million euro surplus towards countries outside the EU.

In January-July, the trade surplus increased by 899 million euros from a year earlier to 6.04 billion euros.

Import volume was up by an annual 4.8 percent in the first seven months of the year. In euro terms imports rose by 0.2 percent to 47.658 billion euros. Exports climbed by 4.1 percent in volume and by 1.9 percent in euros to 53.703 billion euros.

Hungary’s terms of trade improved 2.4 percent in January-July as import prices fell by 2.9 percent in forint terms while forint-term export prices fell by 0.6 percent. The forint weakened 1.6 percent to the euro and 1.5 percent to the dollar in the period.

Source: MTI