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INDUSTRIAL OUTPUT UP 1.5% IN JUNE

 

Industrial output in Hungary grew by an annual 1.5% in June, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) said in a first reading of data on Friday. Adjusted for the number of workdays, industrial output was up by 4.8% compared with June 2021, KSH said. Month on month, June output rose by a seasonally and workday-adjusted 0.6%. KSH said output of Hungary’s biggest manufacturing segments increased during the month, to a smaller degree in the automotive and computer, electronics and optical equipment segments, and to a larger degree in the food, drinks and tobacco products segment. Output of “most other” manufacturing segments fell, it added. In January-June, industrial output rose by 5.1% from the same period a year earlier.
ING Bank chief analyst Péter Virovácz said the fresh data showed industrial output had returned to levels early in the year, suggesting the supply chain interruptions caused by the war were being managed. He pointed to an “extraordinarily high” degree of uncertainty, in spite of PMI indicating continued growth in the sector. Magyar Bankholding senior analyst Gergely Suppan noted that industrial output was up over 71% in June from the low point in April 2020, at the start of the coronavirus crisis, but added that year-on-year growth had slowed a bit in Q2 from Q1. Hungary’s economy could “benefit significantly” in the mid-term from investments by BMW and Mercedes as well as an increase in defence industry capacities, he said.