Trade in Hungary

Lenovo to build manufacturing plant in Hungary

Lenovo to build first European plant in Hungary

Chinese tech giant Lenovo Group will build a manufacturing facility in Hungary, the country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said here on Tuesday.

The 8.2-billion-Hungarian-forint (26.3 million U.S. dollars) plant will be built in Üllő on the outskirts of the capital, with a two-billion-forint government grant, according to Szijjártó.

“The investment will create 1,000 jobs and introduce advanced technological solutions. Production at the plant could start in early 2021,”

the minister said, adding that the investment would accelerate industrial production based on development, meaning it offers great opportunities for the Hungarian economy and Hungarian engineers.

Szijjártó stressed that

Lenovo’s decision confirmed that leading technology companies trusted Hungary and justified the country’s “Eastern Opening” policy, underlining that global competition for Chinese investment was fierce.

Read alsoNext-generation combat vehicles to be manufactured in Hungary − VIDEO

Hungarian finance minister augurs economic turnaround in first half of 2021

Hungarian-finance-minister-Varga

Finance Minister Mihály Varga projected the economy would turn around in the first half of next year as the recovery from the coronavirus crisis is slow across Europe, in an interview on public radio on Monday.

Although Hungary is in a better position than other European countries, the pickup will still be drawn out, Varga said on Kossuth Radio.

Hungary enjoys “favourable circumstances”,

he said, pointing out that the scale of wage growth and retail sales turnover have not dropped in a year-on-year comparison, and the labour market is performing well in international comparison, too.

He acknowledged that

export opportunities are limited as foreign markets will remain weak until a Covid-19 vaccine becomes available.

Varga said investments are expected to make up for lost jobs, in part, adding that the economy’s engines of growth, that is, the food, pharmaceutical and automotive industries, should be the focus of developments.

Hungary debt money economy
Read also1 million Hungarians are indebted currently

Trade between Hungary, China remains strong despite COVID-19

orbán hungary china

The trade between Hungary and China remained strong despite an overall setback of Hungary’s foreign trade due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, Hungarian Export Promotion Agency (HEPA) told Xinhua on Friday.

“Based on the available data, the total foreign trade of Hungary recorded a significant setback in the first half year of 2020, however the trade between Hungary and China remained strong,” HEPA said.

“According to the data of the first six month, the value of Hungarian exports to China could increase by 4 percent while the import rose with even higher pace, by 20 percent on a half year-on-half year basis,” HEPA added.

“In the first half year of 2020, the Hungarian export of processed products and food, beverages and tobacco to China showed a 60.67 percent increase compared to the same period last year,” HEPA said.

The promotion agency underlined that over the last years, China gained more and more importance as Hungary’s trading partner, “It has already obtained primary position amongst the trade partners of Hungary outside Europe.”

For this year’s China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai, HEPA said that the agency was pleased to hear in April that the Chinese government declared the third CIIE will take place despite the challenges this year.

“Our Agency is ready to take every opportunity which can raise the awareness of the high quality Hungarian products, so we plan to have a national pavilion with strong focus on the Hungarian innovations and tourist attractions. Even if the international business environment is quite uncertain, we still hope to take advantage of this great event by introducing our country’s assets and opportunities,” HEPA concluded.

Hungary China cooperation money
Read alsoHungarian foreign minister: China, Hungary work to restart economic cooperation

coronavirus hungary treatment
Read alsoBreathing machines: Hungary signed the worst deal with China from Europe?

One-third of the initial plan: Budapest Airport expects 5.5 million passengers this year

budapest airport coronavirus

Press release – Due to the flight cancelations and drop in passenger traffic expected during the remaining months of this year, Budapest Airport has recalculated its annual forecast issued 3 months ago. According to the new projection, the annual passenger number will be no more than 5.5 million, one-third of the initial plan. The drastic drop in passenger traffic is visible throughout Europe; 1.15 billion aerial passengers have vanished on the continent until the end of August, due to the travel restrictions introduced on account of the pandemic.

Following the all-time high traffic level registered last year, Budapest Airport expected another record year in 2020, with more than 17 million passengers. In contrast, the airport handled only 3.5 million passengers by the end of August, compared to 10.6 million recorded by the end of August last year. Following the low point in April, passenger numbers started to increase slowly, reaching 393 665 in August, but even this is far below the 1.6 million travelers handled last August.

The travel restrictions announced by the government and effective from 1 September are expected to have a similar impact on passenger traffic as seen between the middle of March and June.

Wizz Air and Ryanair have already published their flight cancelations for the next months, many other airlines will decide in the next few days about the modification of their schedules and the cancelation of their flights.

Based on discussions with airline partners, we believe that flights will be canceled en masse in the coming days, and the schedule of the flights that will be available from Budapest during the current travel restrictions will be finalized by the second half of next week. Most of the remaining flights will operate to large European hubs – London, Berlin, Paris, etc. – to serve the traffic of business travelers permitted by the relevant government decree.

Based on the expected flight cancelations and reduction in passenger traffic, Budapest Airport expects around 3000 passengers per day during the coming period, instead of the 45-50 000 that was customary at this time on a daily basis.

The annual passenger number could thus be no more than 5.5 million, one-third of the initial plan.

This also means that Budapest Airport’s 2020 business plan, prepared before the coronavirus pandemic, will not be fulfilled, neither in terms of passenger traffic, nor financial indicators. Since March, the company has lost virtually all of its revenues on account of the near-complete halt in aviation seen over the past few months, which will heavily impact the 2020 financial results. It therefore introduced numerous cost-cutting measures and will for the time being spend money only if and to the extent required for the safe and secure operation of the airport. This means the sharp reduction of the number of investments, the renegotiation or termination of contracts and the reduction of all expenses not needed for the safe and secure operation of the airport, in order to responsibly preserve its existing funds for core airport operations and salaries.

Although the current crisis has drastic impacts on Budapest Airport,

thanks to the successful financial management of the past years, the company’s operation is stable; it is able to maintain the safe operation of the airport and the availability of the staff necessary for this.