According to the latest flash report on foreign trade turnover by the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH), in the initial three months of this year Hungarian exports and imports totalled HUF 5 891bn (EUR 19.9bn) and HUF 5 367bn (EUR 18.2bn), respectively. Thus, in January-March, a significant foreign trade surplus of HUF 524bn (EUR 1.7bn) was accumulated, which amount is HUF 29bn (EUR 51 million) above the figure recorded in the corresponding period of the previous year. In the first quarter, the volume of exports and imports was on a par with the level registered in the same period of last year.

Among commodity groups, exports and imports in the highly significant category of machinery and transport equipment declined by 0.5 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively, compared to the level of one year ago. Within this segment, the shrinking of imports of telecommunications, sound-recording and reproducing apparatus and equipment was slowing down from month to month in the observed quarter, and the downward trend in this category’s exports appears to have been reversed in March: the volume of exports recorded a single-digit increase in the third month of the year.

Thanks to production capacity expansion, the exports of road vehicles increased markedly in Q1 2013 in comparison to the same period of the previous year, and exports of office machines and automatic data processing machines also recorded dynamic growth.

In contrast to the dwindling trade volume of machinery and transport equipment, the level of exports and imports regarding manufactured goods – another prominent commodity group – were well above that of one year ago: exports and imports were up by 3.9 percent and 3.5 percent, respectively, in January-March this year. Within this category, exports of organic chemicals and plastics in primary forms increased dynamically. The import volume of electricity and fuels was 2.4 percent higher than in the first quarter of last year, while exports and imports with regard to food, beverages and tobacco products both slumped by 7.9 percent and 5.5 percent, respectively.

Hungarian exports to and imports from EU member states – which are key foreign trade destinations – totalled EUR 15 245 million and EUR 12 528 million in Q1 2013. Consequently, Hungary’s foreign trade with these countries posted a surplus of EUR 2 717 million, which exceeds last year’s figure by EUR 306 million. The volume of exports to “old” EU member states increased by 2.1 percent and that of imports was down by 1.4 percent. Exports to and imports from “new” EU countries decreased by 4.5 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively.

Hungary’s foreign trade deficit vis-á-vis non-EU countries was EUR 977 million, EUR 256 million more than the figure recorded in the corresponding period of last year. The volume of imports increased by 4.8 percent in the first quarter of 2013, and that of exports registered a decline of 0.8 percent.

(Ministry for National Economy)