The National Federation of Hungarian Building Contractors (ÉVOSZ) expects orders that were never placed in the last two months will be arriving in mid-June.
ÉVOSZ President László Koji told public radio MR1 on Tuesday morning that the output of Hungary's construction sector in the first quarter of 2020 was broadly the same as in the same period of 2029, but due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, they had received no orders for two months.
The question is now how micro and small businesses will cope with these difficult times, given that they generally have reserves sufficient for 1.0-1.5 months, he added.
Experiences show that the number of new contracts has risen only in the countryside for now.
Koji noted that in this situation the federation is asking the government to take into consideration that the construction sector is a priority sector and to make sure that the preparation of state projects are accelerated.
"We need to set the construction industry on a new course to get it to another level in terms of organisation, digitalisation, know-how [and] building energy. For us to become better for our industry, the materials industry also needs developments which will facilitate the manufacture of much more complex and more rapidly installable materials that also save manpower," he said.
