Hungary's industrial output increased by 6.1% y/y in January 2014, slowing down from a 6.8% y/y growth in the previous month, the statistics office said on March 12 confirming the preliminary figures published a week earlier. The manufacturing of transport equipment remained the key driving force.

In workday-adjusted terms, production grew by 6.1% y/y as well. Production adjusted for seasonal effects advanced by 3.1% m/m in January.

In unadjusted terms, industrial export sales grew by 9.3% y/y in the first month of 2014, mainly helped by a 27.5% y/y growth in the exports of transport equipment segment, which represented nearly a third of the manufacturing exports. By contrast, the manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products, which accounted for a seventh of manufacturing exports, declined by 11.4% y/y.

Industrial domestic sales dropped by 5.5% y/y in January, deepening from a 2% y/y decline in December 2013.

Overall, the output of the manufacturing sector increased by 7.8% y/y in January, while the mining and quarrying declined by 4.9% y/y and the energy sector registered a 11.8% y/y drop.

New manufacturing orders fell by 3.3% y/y in January, pushed down by a 5.4% y/y drop in the volume of new export orders. At the same time, domestic orders registered a 14% y/y rise. The total stock of orders was up 12.1% y/y at end-January.

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 domestic market.