BUDAPEST, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- The volume of industrial production was up by 4.8 percent in 2017 against 2016, figures from the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH) showed here on Wednesday.

By contrast, industrial production in 2016 was up by 0.9 percent year-on-year.

The Ministry for National Economy expects the upward trend to continue in 2018.

"The purchasing confidence index, the industrial order portfolio, and industry-related capacity-building investments support the fact that the growth of the industry is expected to remain in the upcoming period as well," said Gyula Pomazi, deputy state secretary for industrial strategy and economic governance, on M1 public television.

"The vehicle sector underperformed in the industry last year, but this was compensated by the growth of other industries, which allowed industrial production to grow by 4.8 percent per year," Pomazi added.

He said, however, that there were also areas within the vehicle sector that did grow vigorously, such as component manufacturing, rubber manufacturing, machine manufacturing, and metal parts production. Meanwhile, pharmaceuticals, medical instruments manufacturing, as well as the plastics industry also performed well.

Pomazi said the challenge for 2018 would be to ensure the right quantity and quality of resources for the industry.

KSH said it would issue its second, detailed estimate on Feb. 13.