Népszava erroneously explains the data of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office, misinforming readers – HCSO's response to the article “Ultragáz ”, 19/06/2024
Referring to the data of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office, Népszava1 wrongly explains the price of natural gas and its background in an article published on June 19. The statement is wrong, violates and undermines confidence in official statistics.
HCSO calculates the external trade price and price index of natural gas on the basis of information provided by the data providers. The validation of the quantities reported by the data providers is based on FGSZ (Natural Gas Transmission Ltd.) and the determination of the unit price used in the analyses is based on HCSO data, the latter using the ratio of the monthly value of natural gas imported in gaseous state to the quantity. The alignment of import prices of natural gas with world market trends should be assessed in the light of the quotations of the benchmark Dutch gas exchange.
The average of the daily closing prices of the exchange should be used to determine the monthly actual world market prices (TTF-prices)2 of natural gas, given that the use of both monthly opening and closing prices would distort the comparison. Of course, the use of the average price has limitations - it condenses the volatility of daily prices into a single indicator - but it still provides a more accurate comparison on a monthly basis than the use of opening, closing, minimum or maximum prices.
In terms of the timing of the comparison, it can be stated that the price of imported gas usually followed the TTF prices with a 2-month lag. This shows that in 2023, natural gas was imported into Hungary at a price 4.6% lower than the average price on the Dutch exchange. And this year, on average, natural gas from Russia to Hungary has been 13.1% cheaper on average.
More information is available in the publication Factual information on import prices of natural gas, published in the October 2022 issue of October 2022 issue of Statistical Review.
The HCSO requests the editorial staff of Népszava to provide factual, reality-based data and to kindly amend the above-mentioned article according to the information provided by the HCSO in order to provide readers with correct and authentic information.
Thank you for your cooperation!
Hungarian Central Statistical Office
H-1024 Budapest, Keleti Károly u. 5-7. Tel./Phone: (+36-1) 345-6000
Postacím/Postal address: P.O.Box 51 Budapest H-1525
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