Economy 3 May 2013, 9:39am

Hungary final Feb trade surplus smaller than prelim, exports suffer

Portfolio

Hungary’s foreign trade surplus was EUR 34 million smaller in February, according to revised figures than what the preliminary report of the Central Statistics Office (KSH) showed earlier. The accumulated surplus is also behind the Jan-Feb print in 2012 and 2011, but is still large. At the same time, the adjusted figures still show stagnating exports, which casts a shadow over the growth outlook.

In the second month of 2013, export volume was nearly unchanged, while import volume grew by 0.9% compared to February in the previous year. The volume decrease of the major commodity groups was compensated by the expansion of the trade of manufactured goods in both directions.

The export and import volumes of machinery and transport equipment decreased to the same extent, by 1.2% compared to the same period of 2012. The export and import volumes of telecommunications and sound recording and reproducing apparatus and equipment - having a significant proportion - diminished by almost one tenth in both directions, although the decrease was more moderate in February than in the first month of the year. The export volumes of electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances, power generating machinery and equipment, and general industrial machinery and equipment were around the base level, while the exports of road vehicles and the trade of office machines and automata data processing machines in both directions rose dynamically.

Due to the imports of metro trains, the trade of other transport equipment grew considerably.

The export and import volumes of manufactured goods were up by 4.7% and 5.0%, respectively compared to the same period of 2012. The export volume of medical and pharmaceutical products grew above the average, while their imports remained invariably below the base level. The export volume of organic chemicals and the trade of plastics in primary forms - mainly due to the new chemical industry investments - largely increased. A two-digit growth was characteristic of the imports of iron and steel, and the exports of non-ferrous metals.

The import volume of fuels and electric energy, along with a 4.3% fall of HUF prices, was up by about one tenth compared to the first two months of 2012. The import volume of petroleum, petroleum products and related materials increased by one sixth in January-February, although, a decrease was already measured in February. The import volume of natural and manufactured gas was nearly unchanged compared to the same period of the previous year.

In the first two months of 2013, the volume of exports of food, beverages and tobacco was down by 5.4%, while that of imports by 4.1% compared to January-February 2012. The exports of cereals and cereal preparations, having the highest proportion in exports of this main commodity group, fell by about one third. This was not offset even by the dynamic growth in the export volume of meat and meat preparations, dairy products and birds’ eggs, feeding stuff for animals, as well as in beverages. The largest decrease was registered in the imports of sugars, sugar preparations and honey and feeding stuff for animals.

In January-February 2013, the share of European Union Member States was 77% in exports and 68% in imports: export and import volumes grew by 0.8% and 0.3%, respectively year-on-year. The surplus on our trade with EU member states was up by HUF 23 billion to HUF 523 billion.

In extra-EU trade, the volume of exports decreased by 1.3%, while that of imports grew by 6.1% compared to the same period one year earlier. In exports telecommunication equipment, in imports fuels and electric energy played a significant role. The deficit on our trade was HUF 240 billion, HUF 62 billion more than last January-February.