HANOI: Việt Nam’s index of industrial production (IIP) in the first seven months of this year rose 7.2 per cent year-on-year, the General Statistics Office (GSO) announced. The growth rate was lower than the 10 per cent registered during the same period last year.
The processing and manufacturing sector, which accounts for more than 70 per cent of the total value of the industrial sector, grew 9.9 per cent in the first seven months, electricity production and distribution saw an increase of 11.6 per cent, while the mineral industry decreased 2.7 per cent. Economists from GSO said the low growth rate was due to the decline in product consumption as the consumption index in June increased by only 0.7 per cent over May, while May’s consumption index grew 5.2 per cent over April.
Industrial products saw high growth, such as television which rose 79 per cent, rolled steel grew 23.5 per cent, automobiles increased 22 per cent and animal feed jumped 19.7 per cent, besides cement that rose 15.7 per cent and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) by 14.8 per cent. Meanwhile, industrial output of motorbikes and leather and footwear fell 1.2 per cent and 1.3 per cent, respectively, while sugar, crude oil and mobile phones declined 5.5 per cent, 6.8 per cent and 8.5 per cent, respectively.
According to GSO, the capacity for improvement in industrial production in the rest of this year was limited as the average inventory rate in the first six months was 70 per cent, declining only 1.5 per cent compared to the previous five months. Provinces where the IIP saw high growth were Bình Dương at 8.5 per cent; Đồng Nai at eight per cent; Hải Phòng at 16 per cent; and Đà Nẵng at 11.5 per cent; besides Bắc Ninh at 9.7 per cent; HCM City at 7.1 per cent; and Hà Nội at 6.8 per cent.
