Extreme fall in industry output

In January 2009, industrial gross output decreased by 22.9% compared to January 2008. The index adjusted for working days declined by 21%.

The industrial export sales declined by
29.2% in the first month of 2009 compared to the same period of the
previous year, as a result of a strong fall in export demand. Two
manufacturing subsections gave more than a half of export sales in
January. In the first month of the year, the greatest exporter
(representing almost one third of manufacturing exports), manufacture
of computer, electronic and optical products had a significant
decrease in export volume at a rate of 30.7%. The export volume of
transport equipment − the other significant subsection, giving
nearly one fifth in manufacturing exports − dropped by 39.2%.

In January, industrial domestic sales
decreased by 5% compared to the same period of the previous year. Domestic sales of manufacturing
declined by 15.6% in the first month of this year, because of a fall
in orders concerning the domestic supplier networks of export
oriented enterprises.

In January 2009, the production of
manufacturing fell by 25.8% compared to the same month of 2008, while that of mining and
quarrying (having little weight) increased by 22.3%, primarily due to
a dynamic increase in class of support activities for petroleum and
natural gas extraction. The output of energy industry (electricity,
gas, steam and air-conditioning supply) was by 2.2% higher than in
the same month a year ago, partly owing to the colder weather
compared to the previous year (in January 2009, the temperature was
2.9°C lower than the average of January 2008 – according to the
Hungarian Meteorological Service).

In January, a decrease was observed in
most subsections of manufacturing. Out of subsections with a
significant weight, the production of electrical and optical
equipment (giving more than one fourth of manufacturing) declined
markedly, by 28.5%, compared to the same month of the previous year.
Within the subsection, the sharpest fall was recorded in class of
manufacture of communication equipment. The manufacture of transport
equipment (representing nearly one fourth of manufacturing) was down
by 42.4% in output (the greatest among the subsections) compared to
the same month of the previous year.

The manufacture of food products,
beverages and tobacco products (accounting for one eighth of manufacturing) decreased slightly, by
7%. The output of coke and refined petroleum products rose by 27.4%,
first of all due to the lack of gas in January.

In January 2009, total new orders in
the observed branches of manufacturing fell by 32.4% compared to the
same month of 2008. The volume of new export orders decreased by
32.2%, while that of new domestic orders declined by 33.4%. The
volume of total stock of orders was below the level of January 2008
by 17.7%.

a The subannual industry statistics
considers sum of sections – mining, manufacturing and energy
industry (B, C, and D) – as total industry. Its official name is as
follows: Industry excluding water and waste management.

In the first month of this year, the
labour productivity of industrial enterprises with 5 or more employees was 17,8% lower than in the
same period of 2008 (following the considerable fall in the production), along with a decrease of
6,5% in the number of employees.

In January 2009, industrial production
fell in every region of Hungary compared to the same period of 2008. The greatest volume decline
was recorded in Central-Transdanubia (39.2%).