Hungarian industrial output in May fell by an unadjusted 5.2%, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) said in a first reading of data. Adjusted for the number of working days, output fell by 4.9%. Output of most manufacturing sector branches fell, KSH said. Among the biggest segments, output of the automotive, the electrical equipment, and the computer, electronics and optical equipment segments dropped, while output of the food, drink and tobacco segment grew from a year earlier, it added. Month on month, output was down 1.1% based on seasonally and working day-adjusted data. In the January-May period, industrial output declined by an annual 2.4%.
Commenting on the data, Gergely Fábián, the national economy ministry’s state secretary for industrial policy and technology, said Hungary’s industrial performance had been hampered by the international environment — the weakening of the German economy in particular — while the essential components of the country’s economy such as real wages, retail turnover and employment were doing well. He said low inflation provided a clement environment for domestic industry to slough off caution, while consumption was also reinvigorated owing to government measures encouraging investments, and he referred to a new home renovation subsidy scheme which has just started, expected to generate an order book approaching 130 billion forints (EUR 332m) in the construction industry and building materials trade.