The cornerstone of a national vaccine production plant will be laid in Debrecen, in eastern Hungary, in one hundred days, the state secretary for economic strategy and regulation said on Monday.
Hungary needs a domestic plant that can start producing a Hungarian vaccine on its own at the end of 2022 so as to “protect the life and health of Hungarians”, László György of the innovation and technology ministry told the online press conference of the operative board in charge of coronavirus epidemic response.
The Hungarian government decided early on, just before the outbreak of the coronavirus epidemic, to make preparations for setting up a domestic vaccination plant in the country’s second largest city, György said.
The state secretary highlighted the economic benefits of a domestic vaccine plant, noting the possibility of vaccine exports to the global market.
Audi Hungaria is expanding its tools plant in Gyor, north-west Hungary, investing 3.8 billion forints (EUR 10.5m), Péter Szijjártó, the minister of foreign affairs and trade, said on Tuesday.
The government is supporting the investment with a 1.2 billion forint grant, which is expected to preserve 700 jobs, the minister said.
Szijjártó praised Audi’s cooperation in the coronavirus protection effort, noting the company had helped in the inoculation of some 3,000 people so far and will take on a similar effort in the near future.
Szijjártó insisted that Hungary’s response to the pandemic in terms of protecting the economy and providing health care was “the most successful in Europe”.
German companies, which decided to use government support and invest in Hungary rather than laying off employees, had a great role in that success, he added.
German automotive companies alone make up 30 percent of Hungarian industrial output and employ 170,000 people, he added.
With all domestic players focusing on electro-mobility, Hungary hopes to strengthen its leading role in the industry “in the new era of car manufacturing”, he said.
Audi’s plant in Győr makes electric motors using technologies that are essential for economic renewal, he said.
Alfons Dintner, the head of Audi Hungaria’s board, thanked the government for its support and said the construction works to enlarge the manufacturing plant by 3,800sqm and the logistics plant by 2,500sqm would be ready by the summer of 2022.
Innovation and Technology Minister László Palkovics discussed the possibility of expanding bilateral research cooperation with Reimund Neugebauer, the president of Germany’s Fraunhofer Society, an applied research organisation, on Friday.
Palkovics and Neugebauer identified areas of prospective cooperation in the sectors of defence, quantum computers, artificial intelligence and food safety, the innovation and technology ministry said in a statement.
They explored the possibility of
including Fraunhofer in defence industry and security research activities in a bilateral project under which Germany’s Rheinmetall
is building a plant for making Lynx infantry fighting vehicles in Zalaegerszeg, in western Hungary, next the ZalaZONE vehicle test track for autonomous vehicles under construction.
Fraunhofer, which operates a computer science research platform with IBM near Stuttgart, could also be included as a partner in a Hungarian-German supercomputer development project, under which a 5 petaflop supercomputer would be built at the Debrecen University, in eastern Hungary, in cooperation with a Stuttgart-based university centre by early 2022.
A global shortage of chips that has rattled production lines at car companies and squeezed stockpiles at gadget makers, is now leaving home appliance makers unable to meet demand, according to the president of Whirlpool Corp in China.
The U.S. based company, one of the world’s largest white goods firm, is falling behind on exports to Europe and the United States from China, by as much as 25% on some months, Jason Ai told Reuters in Shanghai.
“It’s a perfect storm,” he said on the sidelines of the Appliance and World Electronics Expo.
“On the one hand we have to satisfy domestic demand for appliances, on the other hand we’re facing an explosion of export orders. As far as chips go, for those of us in China, it was inevitable.”
The company has struggled to secure enough microcontrollers, simple processors that power over half of its products including microwaves, refrigerators, and washing machines.
While the chip shortage has affected a range of high-end suppliers like Qualcomm Inc, it originated and remains most severe for mature technologies, for example power-management chips used in cars.
The chip shortage, which began in earnest in late December, was caused in part as automakers miscalculated demand and pandemic-fuelled sales of smartphones and laptops surged. It forced carmakers including General Motors to cut production, and increased costs for smartphone makers such as Xiaomi Corp.
And with every company that uses chips in its products panic buying to shore up its stockpile, the shortage has blindsided not just Whirlpool but other appliance makers too.
Hangzhou Robam Appliances Co Ltd, a Chinese white goods maker with over 26,000 employees, had to delay the release of a new high-end stove vent by four months because it couldn’t source enough microcontrollers.
“Most of our products are already optimised for smart home use, so of course we need a lot of chips,” said Dan Ye, marketing director at Robam.
He added that the company had found it easier to source chips from China than overseas, prompting it to re-evaluate future supplies.
“The chips we use in our products aren’t the most cutting edge. Domestic chips can satisfy our needs completely.”
Already cutthroat, profit margins at white goods firms are getting further squeezed due to the shortage.
Robin Rao, planning department director of China’s Sichuan Changhong Electric Co Ltd, said lengthy replacement cycles for appliances, coupled with intense competition and a slowing real estate market, have long kept profit margins thin.
“But because of these core components and chips, our supply chain capital costs have increased.”
To deal with the shortage of microprocessors and flash memory chips, Dreame Technology – a vacuum cleaner brand funded by Xiaomi – cut its marketing budget and hired extra staff just to manage relationships with suppliers.
Dreame has also spent “several million yuan” to test out chips that could serve as alternatives to the ones it typically uses, said Frank Wang, the company’s marketing director.
“We’re working to have deeper control of our suppliers, and have even invested in a few suppliers,” he said.
Norway will block Rolls-Royce from selling a Norwegian maritime engine maker to a Russian company on national security grounds, its justice minister told parliament on Tuesday.
Based on Norway’s west coast, and owned by Britain’s Rolls-Royce for more than 20 years, Bergen Engines supplies NATO member Norway’s navy as well as the global shipping industry.
The government on March 9 said it had temporarily suspended the 150 million euro ($178 million) sale to TMH Group while it assessed security implications.
“We now have sufficient information to conclude that it is necessary to prevent the company from being sold to a group controlled from a country with which we do not have security cooperation,”
Justice Minister Monica Maeland of the centre-right minority government told parliament.
Relations between Norway and Russia, which share a border in the Arctic, gradually improved in the post-Cold War era before suffering a setback when Moscow annexed Crimea in 2014.
That triggered more tension in the north with a military build-up on both sides and more frequent military manoeuvres.
“The technology possessed by Bergen Engines, and the engines they produce, would have been of significant military strategic interest to Russia, and would have boosted Russian military capabilities,” the government said in a statement.
The Russian embassy in Oslo said on March 10 that Norway’s decision to suspend the sale showed anti-Russian sentiment and was of serious concern. The embassy was not immediately available for comment on Tuesday.
Announcing the planned disposal, Rolls-Royce said last month the transaction with Russia’s TMH was part of the group’s overall plan to overcome the pandemic.
Norwegian opposition parties criticised the government for being slow to respond to what they said was a national security threat, after it emerged that Rolls-Royce had informed authorities of a potential Russian deal late last year.
“The government failed to comprehend the severity,” Christian Tybring-Gjedde, a lawmaker from the right wing opposition Progress Party, said.
The case will be the subject of a special hearing in parliament, said Jette Christensen, a lawmaker from the opposition Labour Party.
Bergen Engines makes medium-speed gas and diesel engines for marine and power generation customers. It employs about 950 people and had revenue of 239 million pounds ($332 million) in 2019.
Norway introduced a new security law that year which strengthening the government’s ability to impose conditions or block foreign acquisitions when vital national interests are at stake.
While corporate takeovers have been assessed from time to time, Norway had abstained from blocking any business transactions since the law came in, the government’s NSM security agency said this month.
Volkswagen’s luxury division Porsche AG has agreed to raise its stake in Rimac Automobili to 24%, the companies said on Monday, in a deal that values the Croatian electric hypercar maker at 795 million euros ($947 million).
According to the official website, Rimac Automobili was founded in 2009 from a love for automotive and with the vision to create high-performance cars for the electric era. Today, they are an 850-people strong technology powerhouse focused on designing, engineering and producing electric hypercars and high-performance EV components for the global automotive industry.
The original idea was to create the most powerful (electric) hypercar, Rimac said.
Porsche AG first bought a 10% stake in Rimac in 2018, raising it to more than 15% a year later. Under the latest deal, it is buying a further 8.8% for 70 million euros.
“Rimac is excellently positioned in prototype solutions and small series,” Porsche AG finance chief Lutz Meschke said in a statement.
“Rimac is well on its way to becoming a Tier 1 supplier for Porsche and other manufacturers in the high-tech segment.”
Since Porsche’s first investment, Rimac’s workforce has nearly doubled to 1,000 employees. It is collaborating with carmarkers including Hyundai, Kia and Aston Martin.
“Porsche has been a big supporter of our company since 2018, and it has always been a privilege to have one of the world’s most iconic sports car brands be a part of Rimac.”
Delivering the first railway carrages assembled by Hungary’s Dunakeszi Jarmujavito has been a “milestone” as well as “an excellent example of the cooperation between Hungary, Russia and Egypt”, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in Alexandria on Tuesday.
At a press conference held online on Facebook, Szijjarto said that the Egyptian order for 1,300 carriages to be completed by a Hungarian-Russian consortium and worth one billion euros, had so far been one of the largest export orders in the history of Hungary’s industry.
He said that
624 carriages were scheduled to be completed in Russia and 676 in Hungary. So far, the first 259 have been delivered to the customer.
Concerning ties with Egypt, Szijjártó said that the turnover of bilateral trade had increased by 2.5 times in the past ten years, adding that last year alone Hungarian exports to Egypt were up by 43 percent despite the impact of the coronavirus epidemic.
As we wrote today, Egypt deserves unconditional support from the European Union as it has proven that illegal migration can be halted at sea as well as on land, Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s foreign minister, said after talks with his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shoukhry Details HERE.
Hungary has become self-sufficient in manufacturing medical-grade masks that protect against the coronavirus, Finance Minister Mihály Varga said at the launch of a production line turning out one million masks a day at the plant of Vajda Papir in Dunaföldvár, in central Hungary.
The 1.4 billion forint (EUR 3.9m) investment supported by a 1.1 billion government grant has created 16 new jobs and preserved 134, the finance ministry cited Varga as saying on Wednesday.
The government launched its health industry support scheme when the need to boost protection capacities skyrocketed during the coronavirus epidemic, Varga said. The scheme allocated 50 billion forint to support 46 investments, he said.
The goal is to make Hungary self-sufficient in manufacturing protective health-care equipment and to cut its dependence on imports, he said.
He said the Hungarian health-care industry had proven its professional knowledge and development potential over the past few months, “making government support worthwhile”. The funding framework has been raised to 68 billion forints, he said, noting that so far the scheme has supported developments in the production of protective gear, medical equipment, raw pharmaceutical materials and disinfectants.
Hungary is often associated with porn by many men around the world. Many think that Hungary is a big player in the porn industry. In Hungary, there is even a billionaire who made his fortune by screening people masturbating in front of webcams. However, only a few know what made Hungary such a fertile ground for porn, how Hungary and Eastern Europe have affected the global industry, and how that industry is influencing what we want to do in bed.
444 interviewed sociologists Fanni Dés and Gergely Csányi about the history of the Hungarian porn and sex cam industry.
How well is the history of the porn industry known in Hungary?
Gergely Csányi: Testimonies and autobiographical books of actresses have been published, and the contemporary press has also dealt with the topic in the past, but there is little scientific research. While examining the development of the Hungarian sex industry of the ‘90s, we came across many surprising things.
Is it a myth then that Hungary is a porn industry giant?
G.Cs.: It is not, at least in the sense that from the early ‘90s to the early 2000s, a lot of porn movies were made in Hungary. However, the history of the Hungarian porn industry is not heroic at all. The conditions in Hungary were better than in other Eastern European countries, so the capital of the porn industry broke into Hungary very aggressively. Women working for cheap, living in limited financial conditions, were exploited by the Western porn industry.
In terms of capital, Hungary was not powerful. Instead, the circumstances made it possible to shoot porn in Hungary.
Hungarian ex-pornstar Katalin Vad aka “Michelle Wild”
What made the conditions ideal for the Western porn industry?
Fanni Dés: The rest of Eastern Europe was further away, and the infrastructure was relatively good compared to Romania, while the labour was just as cheap. We found many accounts that the western directors got off the plane with a cameraman, and everything else was ready and prepared in Hungary: the studios, equipment, agents with a network of actresses and models.
It is also important that people thought the porn industry was a measure of development. It was said to be normal in the West, and it was a sign of backwardness if the porn industry bothered people. Many contemporary newspapers also wrote that the porn industry is part of the catching-up to the West, so it has not been hampered by anything. Porn was even shot in the Festetics Palace. Virtually any venue could be rented to shoot porn.
G.Cs.: We know from sources that they also used this idea to recruit actresses. They told them that it would ship to West, no one will see it in Hungary and that porn acting would be an entirely accepted career in a few years. It is hard to estimate but
in the late ’90s, and early 2000s, probably about 200 porn movies were shot every year. That is about 800 scenes, with 1,000 to 1,200 actors. Up to four, five, maybe six porn actresses became famous.
How did the international porn competition affect what type of movies were made and what they did in those films? Was there a Hungarian style?
F.D.: The United States has been dominating the porn industry to this day, and at first, pornos were “normal” movies, with a plot and a set or sets. When Europe joined the competition, the gonzo format gained popularity, in which scenes come after the other without any plot or major set. Hardcore porn is also the result of industry competition. Eastern Europe tried to take on the competition by filming increasingly brutal sex scenes. Anal sex, for example, was the trademark of Hungarian porn, which also became part of the Hungarian style.
The “everything can be done to Hungarian women” became the speciality of the region and the overall speciality of Hungarian and Eastern European women.
G.Cs.: It is a snowball-effect in which something new, violent or extreme appears, which only a few would do, and then it becomes a practice for everyone due to the competition. And then you have to invent something again. Ending up in more and more brutal, and more and more extreme sex scenes and porn movies becoming mainstream.
This is basically driven by the market that then penetrates people’s bedrooms and becomes part of their everyday sexuality.
“Cicciolina” Hungarian-Italian ex-porn star
Photo: facebook.com/cicciolina.cicciolina.798
The kind of industry that flourished in Hungary came to an end around the 2000s. What happened?
G.Cs.: The whole global porn industry was rearranged. The porn industry in which Hungary was outstanding, hardly exists anymore. This is mostly due to technological developments and changes in consumer behaviour. It is no longer important to shoot entire porn movies.
The sex cam industry has made a Hungarian billionaire. He is György Gattyán, the founder of LiveJasmin. Is there any connection between the two sectors?
G.Cs.: I would not overemphasise a connection, though there is. The sex cam narrative has laid the groundwork for the sugar daddy industry similarly to porn movies before it. The other clear link is that it also makes a profit because some women are in need of money.
How does the sex cam industry work? There is an image in people’s minds that “performers” are streaming alone from their apartment.
G.Cs.: In Eastern Europe, it is more common that there is a studio where women can go. Usually, there is also an operator (mostly men) sitting behind the camera trying to uphold the interest of paying viewers on behalf of the model. The operator is the one who tells the performer what someone in the chat is asking for. Most of the time, the actress is being watched by several paying viewers at the same time who do not know about the other. It is the operator’s job to handle the situation, so this is not found out. The owner of the studio often employs both operators and women as illicitly.
What would you say is the main conclusion of your research on the sex industry?
F.D.: That we have to deal with how the economy affects our relationships, family roles, households, caring, violence against women, or sex itself. How it affects things we consider intimate.
G.Cs.: Capitalism penetrates our little personal world through various forms of sex, becoming a commodity, affecting our sexuality and the way we treat our partner in the bedroom. These have a terrible effect on our innermost relationships.
Hungarian health industry producer Medicor has started building a plant in an industrial park in Ankara, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said after talks with Mustafa Varank, Turkey’s minister of industry and technology, in Ankara on Monday.
The new 4,300sqm plant will produce medical aids for newborns, Szijjártó said. The Hungarian government has provided a grant of 480 million forints (EUR 1.3m) for the project worth a total of 800 million forints.
Szijjártó told a news conference that Hungary was a “winner of a new epoch in the global economy”, through its policy of supporting investments both by foreign companies in Hungary and Hungarian companies in other countries. Hungary’s production of export goods, he added, could only be increased appreciably if some of that production was transferred to locations closer to the consumer markets.
Szijjártó noted
Medicor’s 100 year-old legacy and its dominance in central Europe as a manufacturer of neonatal medical products.
The company’s products are sold in over 100 countries and they are involved in UNICEF and WHO programmes, he added.
Earlier in the day, Szijjártó had talks with Turkish Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan was present at the signing of an agreement on fostering health industry developments between the two countries’ Eximbanks worth 100 million dollars.
Under the deal, Hungarian and Turkish companies will jointly equip 7 oncology hospitals in Ghana with radiotherapy equipment.
The Hungarian bank will provide the financing and its Turkish counterpart will undertake loan guarantees, Szijjártó said.
Szijjártó also noted that despite 2020 being a “black year” in global trade, Hungary and Turkey increased their bilateral trade by 6 percent, its turnover exceeding 3 billion dollars in late November, more than the 2019 total.
The government is offering a grant of 1.2 billion forints (EUR 3.4m) to Austrian wood products company Falco, which will increase its production capacity in Hungary through a development project worth 8.2 billion forints, the minister of foreign affairs and trade said on Monday, adding that the project would help retain 300 jobs.
Attending a press conference at which Falco announced its plans, Péter Szijjártó said that the Hungarian government had managed to save huge numbers of jobs despite global problems, through its economic strategy providing incentives to investment.
Austria is the third largest investor in Hungary, the minister noted, adding that over 2,000 Austrian companies employed 75,000 people in the country.
According to data published by the United Nations, investments were down by 42 percent worldwide but Hungary benefitted from an increase of 140 percent, Szijjarto said.
American automotive companies BorgWarner and Jabil are launching investments in Hungary worth a combined 12 billion forints (EUR 33.5m) and will receive 4.4 billion forints of government support, the minister of foreign affairs and trade said on Tuesday.
Péter Szijjártó said BorgWarner is planning to invest 6.6 billion and 4.3 billion forints in two developments in Oroszlány, in north-eastern Hungary, while Jabil will complete a project in Tiszaújváros, in the north-east, worth just over 1 billion forints.
The projects will help retain 5,300 jobs and create over 200 new ones, Szijjártó said.
The minister said both companies would contribute to the performance of Hungary’s automotive sector, helping the country strengthen its position in the European and global auto industries.
The automotive industry accounts for 30 percent of the output of Hungary’s manufacturing sector, the minister said, adding that every investment in the sector gives a boost to the national economy as a whole.
Attila Bogár, chief executive of BorgWarner’s Hungarian unit, said
the company had managed to retain its staff in spite of the pandemic and had even increased headcount.
Tibor Czakó, Jabil’s director-general for central Europe, said the company employs more than 4,000 people in Hungary, adding that the new investment would contribute significantly to the retention of its staff and further developments.
MagnusAircraft has made a deal with the commander-in-chief of the Nigerian Air Force to sell propeller planes manufactured by the aircraft factory based in Pécs.
In 2020, the Nigerian Air Force purchased 23 fighter aircraft from the United States, which were already used in action against the insurgence of armed criminal groups in the state of Kaduna.
The Air Force also announced that the country plans to strengthen its relations with Hungary in the field of training pilots, maintenance, and upkeeping of aerial equipment, as well as in the setting up and configuration of exploratory and surveillance systems.
Endre Déri, an honorary consul to Nigeria, and László Boros, the general manager of MagnusAircraft, met with Sadique Abubakar, the Chief of Air Staff of the Nigerian Air Force, and together they visited the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology.
24.hu reached out to László Boros, who confirmed that the aircraft factory has indeed reached an agreement with the Air Force on the delivery of propeller aircraft used for civilian and surveillance purposes, together with the training of Nigerian pilots in Hungary. According to Boros, the number of planes delivered is between 20 and 50; negotiations are currently in process regarding the quantity.
Magnus Aircraft, photo: Facebook
The appearance of MagnusAircraft in Africa is not a novelty as the company has a subsidiary in Kenya.
Using propeller aircraft in combat in African countries in conflicts comes mostly from economic reasons. Operating a fighter helicopter costs 6,000 dollars an hour, while that of a propeller aircraft only costs 60.
Boros also denied that the planes sold would be equipped with a weapon system for Nigeria to use in the battle against armed criminal organisations,
such as Boko Haram, for instance. According to Nigerian sources, the aircraft, however, could be armoured by the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology and the Nigerian weapon factory found in the state of Kaduna, for aerial support and exploratory missions.
Endre Déri, the honorary consul to Nigeria, added that the agreement signed with MagnusAircraft is only the first step towards cooperation with the Nigerian Air Force. Sadique Abubakar, the Chief of Air Staff, will pay a visit to Hungary in March, to conclude negotiations on the matter of training pilots in Hungary, as well as on the supervision of MiG-29 fighter aircraft and Mi attack helicopters.
Armed conflicts are an ongoing issue in Nigeria. In the northern states, the activity of the terror organisation of the Islamic State, Boko Haram, has been intensifying during the past months, while in the middle area of the country, armed groups attack civilians.
Nigeria is not the only country that goes abroad to buy aircraft perfect for their purposes. Hungary has recently bought two military transport aircraft from Brazil.
Just like almost all countries in the world, Hungary also faced serious restrictive measures due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Following the lockdown in the middle of March 2020, however, the Hungarian film studios were able to quickly get back to production in early summer by rapidly solving the challenges of precautionary measures and obtaining exempts for movie casts and crews so that the production of grand international titles could continue.
According to Hollywood Reporter, Csaba Káel, the Government Commissioner for the Development of the Hungarian Motion Picture Industry, said that, although many international productions were halted or deserted, by early summer, almost all the productions that were in progress could be continued. He also added that they finished a total of 20 productions last year.
Although the most important recordings of Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi epic Dune were finished back in July 2019, they were able to revisit the Origo Studios in Budapest last summer in order to shoot some additional footage for the upcoming movie. Other productions that were able to continue their work include Amazon Prime’s drama, Birds of Paradise, which finished shooting in Hungary in August, Netflix’s Terra Vision about the story behind Google Earth, the set of which was built in the NFI Mafilm Studio complex in Fót, near Budapest. Nicolas Cage’s new movie, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, is also being shot in Hungary.
Renaissance city prop
Source: facebook.com/KordaFilmpark/
Korda Filmpark, Etyek
Source: facebook.com/KordaFilmpark
Korda Studios, one of the most successful movie studios in Hungary, provided the location for Showtime’s new live-action series inspired by the popular Halo video games, but not just the big blockbuster productions were welcome. Smaller independent features were also able to continue or finish their work safely, observing measures intended to mitigate the spreading of the coronavirus.
The reason why Hungary’s movie industry was able to get up so quickly after getting hit by a freight train has several factors to it. Firstly, Hungary and the film studios around the country acted fast and rapidly introduced the necessary protective measures to be able to safely continue their work.
Hungary was among the first to introduce regular mandatory testing, tiered systems isolating groups of crew members in order to limit the viral spread, and other similar protocols, which soon became the standard across the global film industry.
Also, as film production makes up about 0.15% of the total Hungarian GDP, the government steadily helped Hungarian studios where it could, so when the European Union introduced a ban on non-EU citizens entering Europe, the Hungarian government passed exempts for Hollywood crews and casts.
Ryan Gosling during the shooting of Blade Runner 2049 in Hungary
Source: facebook.com/KordaFilmpark/
Mihály Tóth of the Origo Film Group said that the Hungarian Origo Studios was the first in Europe – or possibly even the world – which introduced an effective antiviral protocol despite huge investment costs. According to Hollywood Reporter’s information, “the studio had installed its very own private COVID testing laboratory and contracted with a private local hospital to exclusively treat infected crew members”.
“It is remarkable, really, given all of the challenges that we have faced since this crisis began, that we have managed to keep going,” says Adam Goodman, head of MidAtlantic Films, Hungary’s leading production service provider. He also mentioned titles like Borderlands, a new season of Jack Ryan, and a secret new Marvel production. He also added that they are booked until summer 2021, and he is hopeful that this summer will be the last one affected by the COVID-19 measures. As Goodman said, “While the lockdowns and the restrictions continued all over the world, Hungary recognised the importance of the film industry, and is still recognising that.”
Hungary seems to be Europe’s second-most popular destination for filmmaking. While in 2018, HUF 110 billion (over €326 million) was spent on film production in Hungary, this number has grown significantly by 2019, to a whopping HUF 164.4 billion (€450.4 million). This means a 50% increase in a single year, and the majority of such an enormous investment (around 94%) comes from international productions utilising the favourable rebates.
Mafilm studio set, Fót, Hungary
Source: mafilm.hu/
Hungary has become such a popular destination for filmmaking partly because of the top-end studios, partly because of cheaper labour with comparable skill and professionalism, but the main reason for many is the government’s 30% tax rebate on a film or TV show’s local spending. Additionally, foreign productions can apply for up to 25% rebates on certain non-Hungarian costs, making it a
maximum of 37.5% rebate of the total budget of the production, and that is something not worth giving up.
The Hungarian National Film Institute, despite the coronavirus and the more moderate earnings due to it, actually invested in four new 2,400 m2 sound stages for the state-owned Mafilm Studio. The four new expansions will be ready by 2022 and could even be used as two separate 4,800 m2 stages if needed. Once the new additions are ready, it will majorly increase the studio’s productivity, providing it with a total studio capacity of 12,200 m2. The Hungarian National Film Fund is also trying to encourage co-productions to help local talents giving the necessary push in order to prevail.
Cooperation between the Netherlands and Hungary “would be much better were it based on mutual respect” and “if the Dutch were not so obsessed with Hungary’s domestic affairs”, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó told MTI after talks with Stef Blok, his Dutch counterpart, in the Hague on Tuesday.
From an economic point of view, bilateral relations are “harmonic”, with the Netherlands being Hungary’s seventh largest trade partner and tenth largest investor, Szijjártó said, noting that seven Dutch companies had received grants from the Hungarian government during the pandemic to complete projects worth a combined 3.5 billion forints (EUR 9.7m) and save over 1,500 jobs.
“At the same time we are subject to continual political attacks by the Netherlands, which we regret,” Szijjártó said. “We never meant to interfere with Dutch internal politics. We could now rejoice that the Dutch government was forced to resign… but it is none of our business,”
he added.
“I do hope that our excellent economic and trade ties will in time positively impact political relations, too,” Szijjártó said.
Three major German companies have decided to plough a total of 4 billion forints (EUR 11.1m) into investments in Hungary, Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s minister of foreign affairs and trade, said in Budapest on Monday.
The government will contribute 1.2 billion forints to the investments, helping save 1,770 jobs, Szijjártó told a press conference.
Villeroy and Boch, Mahle and Beurer’s Hungarian ventures export over four fifths of their output, so the investments will also boost Hungary’s export performance, he said.
Szijjarto noted the impact of pandemic-related lockdowns on the Hungarian eoconomy, and said that countries looking to procure vaccines from other sources besides the EU’s centralised distribution system had been “regularly attacked”.
“The sooner large shipments of vaccine are available, the quicker can we can inoculate vulnerable people and lift the restrictions hobbling the economy,” he said.
Hungary has also entered the competition to secure advantage in the post-pandemic global economy, Szijjártó said, adding that the government’s investment support scheme had so far helped 1,434 companies investing a total of 1,676 billion forints in the country.
Cooperation between Hungary and Germany had become closer — even in these trying times — Szijjártó said, with German companies maintaining and sometimes boosting their investments in the country, he said.
Three Japanese automotive suppliers are making investments of 6.5 billion forints (EUR 18.0m) in Hungary, with Hungarian government support worth 2 billion forints, Péter Szijjártó, the minister of foreign affairs and trade, said on Tuesday.
Fully 5,300 jobs will be protected as a result, the minister said, adding that the developments will help Hungary maintain its leading edge in Europe’s car industry.
Alpine European Electronics Industry in Biatorbágy, DENSO Manufacturing Hungary in Székesfehérvár and Diamond Electric Hungary in Esztergom are bringing new production technologies and increasing supply capacities to Hungary’s car industry, Szijjártó added, noting that the companies are among the most important car industry suppliers globally.
Fully 173,000 people work in Hungary’s car industry, and in the past ten years the sector’s production value grew two-and-a-half fold to approaching 10,000 billion forints, he added.
Hungary has always aimed to stand on its own two feet economically, he said, consistently building cooperation with the East, primarily in trade and investment, in addition to maintaining western European and north American ties over the past eleven years.
The decision to launch the government’s opening to the East strategy has been vindicated, as demonstrated by a 25 percent increase in trade with Eastern countries over ten years and the fact that
most investment came to Hungary from the East in 2019 and 2020, he added.
Szijjártó also said that coronavirus vaccine acquisitions coordinated by Brussels were progressing slower than previously expected. As a result, the government is continuing talks with Eastern suppliers, he added.
China’s Shenzhen Kedali Industry will build a 14.1 billion forint (EUR 39.4m) lithium battery parts plant in Gödöllő, on the outskirts of Budapest, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said on Monday.
The government is supporting the investment, which will create 330 jobs, with a 1.27 billion forint grant, Szijjártó said.
He said Shenzhen Kedali had been drawn to Hungary amidst tight international competition for the investment.
China has been the biggest foreign investor in terms of volume in Hungary this year,
he said. So far, Chinese companies have invested more than 5 billion dollars in the country and they employ over 16,000 Hungarians, he added.
Shenzhen Kedali chairman Jianli Li said in a video message that the company, which has seven lithium battery plants in China, aims to serve its business partners on the growing European market from a closer proximity with the Hungarian plant.
Serial production at the plant will begin in Q2 2021, he said.
A second phase of construction will start in 2022, raising the number of production lines to ten by 2024.
László Vécsey, the MP for Gödöllő, said
the government is supporting the construction of a road connecting the site of the plant with the motorway with 500 million forints.
