External trade of Hungary covers both its intra-EU and extra-EU trade.
Data sources. Intra-EU data are reported directly by traders, while extra-EU information, collected along the customs procedures, come from the Hungarian Customs and Finance Guard. Responsibility for production and dissemination of external trade statistics lies with the Hungarian Central Statistical Office.
Coverage of intra-EU trade is not full-scope; nearly nine-tenth of enterprises, representing around 3–7% of the total trade value, are exempted from their declaration obligation. Adjustments are made both for this missing trade and non-response by estimation, using administrative data sources and time-series.
Coverage. Foreign trade statistics record the flows of goods crossing the border of the country’s geographical territory, with the following restrictions: goods entering a customs warehouse from abroad or leaving it to a foreign country are excluded, while goods moving between the free circulation area and a customs warehouse are included.
Valuation. The value placed on traded goods is the statistical value, i.e. the value calculated at national frontiers. It is a CIF value for imports and arrivals, and a FOB value for exports and dispatches. It therefore includes only incidental expenses (freight and insurance) incurred, in the case of outgoing products, in the part of the journey located on the territory of the Member State from which the goods are exported and, in the case of incoming products, in the part of the journey located outside the territory of the Member State into which goods are imported.
Values are collected in the national currency. Conversion of other currencies into Hungarian forints (HUF) in the case of intra-EU trade is based on the official medium exchange rate of the bank named in the accounting policy of the given enterprise on the day of arrival/dispatch or, failing that, when the contract was fulfilled. Concerning extra-EU trade enterprises calculate the exchange rate according to the official rate of the National Bank of Hungary (NBH) valid on the second-last Wednesday of the month preceding the customs clearance of goods.
Conversion into euros and dollars of statistical data expressed in HUF is based, in the case of intra-EU trade, on the monthly average exchange rates of the NBH valid for the reference month, while for extra-EU trade the official rate of the NBH valid on the second-last Wednesday of the month preceding the customs clearance of goods.
Balance of external trade is the difference between the value of exports and that of imports.
Basic data are collected according to the common customs- and statistical product nomenclature specified by EU regulation, i.e. the Combined Nomenclature (CN).
Commodity pattern of external trade statistics is set up according to product groups of the Standard International Trade Classification (SITC Rev. 4) of the UN.
Export figures are broken down by countries of destination. In the case of import data, from May 2004, the formerly applied country of origin was, in compliance with EU regulations, replaced by the country of dispatch. Basis figures were adjusted accordingly.
For measuring the changes in volume and price levels of foreign trade turnover price indices based primarily on actual market prices have been calculated from 2003. Price indices of homogeneous commodity groups (food, beverages, tobacco; crude materials; fuels) are worked out on the basis of HUF values and quantity data. As for the price indices of heterogeneous commodity groups (manufactured goods; machinery and transport equipment) data supplied by enterprises are used. Indices are aggregated by total turnover weights of commodities. From 2003 price indices are calculated on a monthly basis by the Fisher type formula. Price indices may change during the reference year.
Volume indices. The volume is calculated by deflation method as the quotient of value index and price index computed of data measured in HUF. The fixed-based trend data of external trade at prices of 1998 show the development of imports and exports as compared to the monthly average of external trade in 1998.
Methodological sources: Methodology for Hungarian External Trade in Goods Statistics (HCSO, Budapest, 2005, in Hungarian), Intrastat Guide, 2015, User guide on European statistics on international trade in goods (2015 edition)