Hungary's foreign trade surplus widened by 8.6% y/y to EUR 3.1bn in January to May 2013, the statistics office said, revising downwards the preliminary figure of EUR 3.11bn. Export grew by 1.8% y/y to EUR 33.68bn, which was faster than the imports’ growth of 1.1% y/y to EUR 30.58bn.

In terms of specific commodity groups, exports of manufactured goods, which have a 32.4% share in total, grew 6.4% y/y to EUR 10.9bn. Machinery and transport equipment picked up by 0.8% y/y and accounted for more than half of the total (53.3%). By contrast, fuel exports declined by 12.4% y/y in the first five months of 2013. Food and crude material exports were 0.9% and 2.7% lower on the year, respectively.

On the import side, manufactured goods advanced by 3.2% y/y. Imports of machinery and transport equipment, which was the most traded category in the period with a 44.9% share of total, edged up by 1.1% y/y to EUR 13.72bn. Among groups with lower weight in total, imports of food, beverages, tobacco increased in Jan-May, while imports of crude materials and fuels saw annual decline in the period.

In May alone, Hungary’s foreign trade surplus declined by 12% y/y to EUR 641.1mn as exports decreased by 1.9% y/y, faster than the imports' drop of 0.7% y/y.