Hungary Industrial Output July 2008

Hungarian industrial production fell on an annual basis again in July as a high forint and slowing demand across Western Europe curbed exports.Production fell an annual 1.8 percent, compared with a 0.3 percent drop in June, according to data out today from the Budapest-based statistics office. Industrial output in January-July was up 4.9% over the same period of 2007. Compared to the previous month, the industrial output index, according to figures adjusted seasonally and by working days, declined by 0.2%.





The industrial export sales grew by 7.1% in the first seven months of 2008 but only by 0.3% in July when compared with the equivalent periods of the previous year. The deceleration of exports in July was especially observed among the large enterprises. In the seventh month of the year Hungary's largest export sector - the manufacture of electrical and optical equipment - (representing one third of all manufacturing exports) had an export volume decline of 7.2%, partly owing to the growing slowdown in Western Europe. On the other hand, the export volume of transport equipment − the other significant subsection, responsible for more than one fourth of manufacturing export sales − rose by 12.1%.