Breathing machines: Hungary signed the worst deal with China from Europe?

Péter Szijjártó said in parliament that not only police officers, healthcare workers, and teachers did well during the coronavirus epidemic but also the government which bought protective equipment to baulk the spread of the virus in time. “There were tragedies in other countries, but we acted in time, and the airlift between Hungary and China worked,” he added. However, Hungary seems to have signed the worst deal regarding the issue in Europe. Details below.

444 says that Hungary pays the most money for breathing machines per kilogram. For example, Germany pays only 1/50th of the Hungarian sum for the same products. Even the government acknowledged that it was hard to buy breathing machines and other protective equipment. A state secretary from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that they bought a lof of such equipment, so Hungary had to pay a lot for them. However, European countries which bought even more than Hungary paid a much better price.

Hungary bought 6,000 machines from a Malaysian company for more than HUF 170 billion (EUR 477.75 million), which 444 says was a lot. Péter Szijjártó said that even though EU member countries continuously criticised China, they did everything to buy protective equipment there.

Based on the data of Eurostat, we know how many kilograms of products a country imported or exported and how much they paid or received for them.

Hungary paid EUR 482 million for 567.5 tons of goods between March and June.

A state secretary said before that even though Hungary ordered products in large quantities, it did not receive a price reduction. However, Eurostat data says that this was not true, for example, for Germany and the Netherlands, which bought more kilograms but cheaper.