According to the State Customs Service of Ukraine, in January-November of 2023, the total volume of foreign trade in goods between Ukraine and Hungary amounted to USD 2.649 billion. The volume of exports of goods amounted to USD 2.649 billion. The volume of exports of goods from Ukraine to Hungary amounted to USD 1.135 billion, the volume of imports of goods - USD 1.514 billion. The balance is negative - USD 379 million.
The main goods exported from Ukraine to Hungary were: electric heating appliances and apparatus; electric irons; corn; insulated wires, cables and other insulated electrical conductors; processed timber, more than 6 mm thick; electrical telephone or telegraph devices; videophones; soybeans; sunflower seeds; sugar. The main goods imported from Hungary to Ukraine were: petroleum gases; oil and petroleum products; passenger cars and other motor vehicles; insulated wires, cables and other insulated electrical conductors; animal feed products; insulated fittings; magnetic or optical reading devices; electrical equipment; insecticides, rodenticides, fungicides, herbicides, disinfectants.
According to the National Bank of Ukraine data, as of December 31, 2022, the volume of foreign direct investment (FDI) from Hungary to Ukraine amounted to USD 613.4 million, which accounted 1.2% of the total volume of FDI into Ukraine. The volume of foreign direct investment from Ukraine to Hungary amounted to USD 3.1 million.
In particular, on 28.11.2023, the Lviv Regional State Administration and the Lviv Regional Council signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with Triosan Holding Ukraine LLC (a subsidiary of the Hungarian company Triosan Holding), which provides for the construction of a greenhouse complex using geothermal energy in Yavoriv district. During 2023, the Hungarian company Mento, which signed a grant agreement on 12.21.2022, carried out construction work as part of the Zero Waste investment project to build the first waste sorting plant in the village of Yanoshi, Berehove district, Transcarpathian region.
On September 16, 2023, the Hungarian government unilaterally imposed a ban on imports of 24 categories of agricultural products from Ukraine at the national level after the European Commission lifted the ban on imports of 4 categories of Ukrainian agricultural products at the EU level on September 15, 2023. As of January 2024, Hungary has banned the import of 23 categories of agricultural products from Ukraine (according to the codes of goods of the Ukrainian Classification of Goods for Foreign Economic Activity - 0201; 0202; 0203; 0204; 0207; 0407; 0409; 0710; 1001 99 00; 1002; 1003; 1005 90 00; 1008; 1101; 1102; 1104; 1205; 1206; 1512; 1514; 1905 10 00; 2005; 2204).
Hungary joined the Ukrainian grain initiative "Grain from Ukraine", allocating USD 3.5 million during the first meeting in 2022 for the export of Ukrainian grain to countries on the verge of famine.
Cross-border cooperation between Ukraine and Hungary is an important part of interstate relations, and its development and prospects are determined by historical and cultural ties, the presence of a large Hungarian minority in Ukraine and a Ukrainian minority in Hungary, and favorable geographical location. Since 2021, the development of cross-border cooperation has focused on the economic strengthening of the regions, in particular through the development of industrial parks and decentralization reform.
Ukraine and Hungary cooperate within of various international initiatives, in particular the Interreg Hungary-Slovakia-Romania-Ukraine program (valid until 2030 and provides for the development of border areas between Ukraine, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania), the Interreg Danube Region Programme, the Eastern Partnership and the Central European Initiative, which contributes deeper cooperation between the countries in various areas, including trade and economy.
In addition, Ukraine and Hungary pay considerable attention to the development of interregional cooperation. In particular, in 2023 cooperation between Ukrainian and Hungarian municipalities were launched between Byshiv (Kyiv region) and Bácsalmás, Lebedyn (Sumy region) and Papa, Orzhytsia (Poltava region) and Budakeszi. On 09.10.2023, a delegation from Papa municipality visited the city of Lebedyn, during which a memorandum of cooperation between the cities was signed.
Ukraine and Hungary have significant potential for developing cooperation in the energy field, as the latter can become an important transit country for the supply of natural gas, electricity, and fuel to Ukraine, as well as a partner for the implementation of joint projects in the field of renewable energy and energy efficiency.
A positive example of bilateral cooperation in the energy field is the establishment of a reverse route for diesel fuel supply from Hungary through the “Samara-Western Border” oil pipeline, through which 114 thousand tons of diesel were delivered to Ukraine in 2022.
Since January 2022, test guaranteed capacities for the physical transportation of gas from Hungary to Ukraine with a volume of up to 8 million m3/day have been in effect. In 2023, Ukraine received 1.3 billion cubic meters of gas from Hungarian direction, which is 31% of total imports from the EU and Moldova.
The development of transport infrastructure can contribute to the growth of trade between Ukraine and Hungary. In this context, the implementation of joint projects to modernize border and transport infrastructure, the opening of new checkpoints will have a positive impact on increasing the capacity and trade between the countries. Due to this aim, in January 2023, two Ukrainian-Hungarian projects to increase the transport capacity of the “Chop-Zahony” and “Batyevo-Epereske” railway logistics hubs as well as the reconstruction of the road checkpoint “Luzhanka-Beregsurany”, developed with the assistance of DG MOVE, were submitted to the governing body of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) program.