Hungary's industrial output increased by 9.6% y/y in May 2014 easing from a 10.1% growth in the previous month, the statistics office said on July 14 confirming the preliminary figures published ten days earlier. The growth was driven by expanding transport equipment and food sectors.

In workday-adjusted terms, production also grew by 9.6% y/y in May and adjusted for seasonal effects it went down by 1% m/m.

The manufacturing sector expanded by an annual 10.6% in May supported mainly by a 23.9% rise in vehicle production, a 9% hike in computer and electronics production and a 5.3% rise in food production. By contrast, the mining and quarrying sector posted a 15.8% yearly fall in production in May and the energy sector registered a 2.9% y/y drop.

Industrial export sales jumped by 10.3% y/y in May, mainly supported by a 21.3% y/y growth in transport equipment exports, which represented more than a third of the manufacturing sales abroad. In addition, the computer, electronic and optical products sector, which accounted for a seventh of manufacturing exports, grew by 9.9% y/y.

Industrial domestic sales were 4.2% higher on the year in May, pushed up by a 2.2% y/y rise in manufacturing sales.

New manufacturing orders grew by 14% y/y in May, reflecting a 13.7% y/y rise in the volume of new export orders and a 15.6% y/y increase in domestic orders. The total stock of orders was up 19.2% y/y at end-May.

In aggregate terms, the industrial output increased by 10.4% y/y in the first five months of 2014.

Hungary's industrial output increased by 1.4% y/y 2013, recovering from a 1.8% y/y drop in 2012. The improvement was exclusively due to a 4.9% y/y rise in export sales, which more than offset a 1.8% y/y drop in sales on the domestic market.