Economy 8 December 2023, 9:31am

Growth in Hungary's trade surplus slows, but 2023 could still be a record year

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After a rapid improvement in September, the growth of Hungary's external trade balance slowed in October, but still stood at €1 billion, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) reported on Friday. The expansion was driven by a normalisation of energy prices on the import side.

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According to the stats office's first estimate, the surplus of the external trade in goods amounted to EUR 1.0 billion in October, but compared to the previous month, the level of export in goods decreased by 0.6%, while their import was 1.9% higher.

The value of export increased by 1.2% year on year, that of import lessened by 13% in EUR terms.

The value of exports amounted to EUR 12.8 billion (HUF 4,930 billion), that of imports to EUR 11.7 billion (HUF 4,530 billion). The surplus of the external trade in goods was EUR 1.0 billion (HUF 400 billion). The share of the EU Member States (EU27_2020) was 77% in exports and 70% in imports.

This means that the trends observed this year have continued. With world energy prices normalising, the value of imports has fallen, enough to continue to create a very significant surplus in trade. Export performance continues to be subdued, with exports mainly affected by the weakness of Hungary's external markets. However, the decline on the import side could result in a

EUR 9 BILLION SURPLUS IN EXTERNAL TRADE FOR THE YEAR.

However, there is a slowdown compared to the expansion of the trade surplus in September, which was the second largest in history, with a growth of €1.263 billion in that month.