Key points:
- Hungarian exports to the US jumped by more than a third in the first eight months of 2026, driven by car and electronics plants.
- Imports are growing even faster and make up more than 70% of the country’s sea container traffic, most of it routed via the Adriatic.
- Developers are building warehouses near car plants and motorway corridors rather than around Budapest.
Every export starts with an import
Industry is setting the pace of Hungary’s foreign trade. Figures from the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH) show that exports to the United States were more than 35% higher in January–August than a year earlier. Sales to Poland, Hungary’s second-largest export market after Germany, rose 6.7%. In August alone, shipments of transport equipment and electronics were almost 40% up year on year, helped by higher output at BMW’s new plant in Debrecen.
That growth pulls imports with it. Hungarian factories depend heavily on foreign components, and households are spending more as real wages rise. The Hungarian National Bank expects imports to outpace exports this year.
For logistics companies, this means busier flows in both directions. László Molnár, managing director of Rohlig SUUS Logistics in Hungary, says the shift is visible along the whole chain, from parts delivered to assembly lines to finished goods leaving the country, and that inbound handling, including customs clearance and buffer storage, is becoming critical for manufacturers.
A landlocked country chooses its ports
With no coastline, Hungary relies on its neighbours’ ports for overseas trade. Container traffic reached a record in the second quarter, and imports now account for more than 70% of the country’s container volumes. Imports from the US alone nearly doubled in eight months.
Most of this cargo comes in through the Adriatic. Koper, Trieste and Rijeka handle the bulk of Hungarian boxes, while Constanța on the Black Sea, where carriers now charge war-risk surcharges, is another option. In the north, Gdańsk, Hamburg and Bremerhaven compete for the same volumes. According to Rohlig SUUS, the choice depends on the lane, the cargo and the transit time needed, and the rivalry between Adriatic and Baltic ports gives Hungarian shippers more room to negotiate.
New roads east, new rails north
Overland links are improving too. Trucks have crossed into Romania without border checks since 2025, and the M49 expressway is due to reach the Romanian border in the coming years. That matters because imports from Romania are among the fastest-growing this year.
On rail, the national development plan for 2026–2035, adopted in August, prepares fast connections to Vienna and Warsaw. The rebuilt Budapest–Belgrade line is still in a testing or limited phase, so its role in freight remains uncertain. The EU Council’s October decision to release cohesion funds for Hungary could speed up investment.
Air cargo is going the other way. Stricter EU customs rules have cut the number of cheap e-commerce parcels passing through airports, and some freighter capacity has been withdrawn. As a result, handling agents are paying more attention to classic general cargo, and rates to Asia have become more competitive on some routes.
Warehouses leave Budapest
Hungary’s modern industrial and logistics stock has passed 6.5 million sqm, and leasing in the first half of the year was well above 2025 levels. Most new space is now being built outside the capital, close to car plants and along transport corridors such as the M6 motorway towards Croatia. After a wave of speculative development, tenants also have vacant space to choose from.
Car makers in particular are turning to vendor managed inventory (VMI). In this model, the logistics operator imports and stores the components, while the manufacturer pays for the parts, duties and taxes only when they are released to the production line. That keeps parts at hand without tying up cash in stock.
Molnár expects the winners to be companies that keep inventory near factories or main corridors and combine customs and transport in one process. The macro picture supports that view: the central bank forecasts GDP growth rising from 1.8% this year to 2.9% in 2027 as new automotive capacity comes on stream.
