Industrial output up 3.6 percent in March

Adjusted for the number of workdays, output climbed 4.2 percent, KSH said.

For the period January-March, industrial output rose by 5.5 percent from the same period a year earlier.

Month on month, output edged down a seasonally and workday-adjusted 0.1 percent.

KSH said automotive sector output “fell significantly” in March. Output of the other two big manufacturing sector segments — computers, electronics and optical equipment, and food, drink and tobacco products — rose over headline growth, it added.

Magyar Bankholding chief analyst Gergely Suppan said output growth “exceeded all expectations” in March. He said supply chain interruptions remained a “significant risk”, not only for the automotive sector, but for companies turning out aluminium or artificial fertiliser. Magyar Bankholding analysts put full-year industrial output growth around 5-6 percent, amid “marked uncertainty”, supported by base effects and new capacities, he added.

ING Bank senior analyst Peter Virovacz said the slowdown was “hardly a surprise”, given the series of automotive industry scale-backs after the outbreak of the war as companies faced parts shortages.