Hungary's foreign trade surplus dropped by 1% y/y to EUR 4.57bn in January to August 2013, the statistics office said, revising slightly down the preliminary figure of EUR 4.58bn. Exports grew by 0.9% y/y to EUR 53.54bn, slightly slower than the imports’ growth of 1.1% y/y to EUR 48.97bn.

In terms of specific commodity groups, exports of manufactured goods, which have a 32.5% share in total, expanded by 5.4% y/y to EUR 17.4bn. Machinery and transport equipment edged up by 0.6% y/y and accounted for more than half of the total (53.1%). By contrast, fuel exports declined by 14.8% y/y in January to August 2013. Food and crude material exports were 2.7% and 7.3% lower on the year, respectively.

On the import side, manufactured goods advanced by 3.8% y/y. Imports of machinery and transport equipment, which was the most traded category in the period with a 45.3% share of total, increased only marginally y/y to EUR 22.2bn. Among groups with lower weight, imports of food, beverages, tobacco increased in the first eight months of 2013, while imports of crude materials and fuels declined.

In August alone, Hungary’s foreign trade surplus widened by 1.2% y/y to EUR 613.1mn as exports dropped by 3.4% y/y and imports declined by 3.9% y/y.