Hungary's foreign trade surplus widened by 6.2% y/y to EUR 2.97bn in the first five months of 2014, the statistics office said, revising down the preliminary estimate of EUR 2.98bn, published on July 9. Exports grew by 4.1% y/y to EUR 34.93bn in Jan-May 2014, while imports grew at the slower pace of 3.9% y/y to EUR 32bn.
In terms of specific commodity groups, exports of machinery and transport equipment, which had a 54.2% share in total, expanded by 6.2% y/y to EUR 18.95bn. Exports of manufactured goods increased by 3.4% y/y and accounted for a third of the total (32.2%). Exports of food, beverages, tobacco advanced by 3.2% y/y. By contrast, exports of crude material as well fuels and electric energy declined by 12.5% and 3.3% y/y, respectively.
On the import side, manufactured goods advanced by 6.6% y/y. Imports of machinery and transport equipment, which was the most traded category in the period with a 45.4% share of total, increased by 5.2% y/y to EUR 14.5bn. Imports of food, beverages, tobacco were up by 7% y/y as well, while imports of crude materials dropped by 3.6% y/y in the period. Finally, imports of fuels declined by 7.2% y/y in Jan-May.
In May alone, Hungary's foreign trade surplus narrowed by 16.5% y/y to EUR 410mn as exports rose by 2.3% y/y, while imports were up by 3.7% y/y.
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