Domestic industrial production makes a good start to the year

Some industrial products recorded high IIP increases during the month, included handsets (up 91.1 per cent); televisions (88.7 per cent); steel (35.7 per cent); animal feed (29 per cent) and cement (27.1 per cent). — VNA/VNS Photo Hoang Hung

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — The national index of industrial production (IIP) grew significantly by 17.5 per cent in January, up from the same period last year, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

The processing and manufacturing sector, which account for more than 70 per cent of total industrial output, saw a year-on-year growth of 19.4 per cent, while production and distribution in the electricity sector jumped by 20.9 per cent. Production in the water supply, sewage and waste management sector grew by 9.5 per cent.

Encouraging growth was also reported for other products such as fresh milk (21.9 per cent); footwear (19.8 per cent) and fertilisers (18.5 per cent).

Several products, however, reported industrial production drops, such as powdered milk, down 18 per cent, liquid petroleum gas (10.9 per cent) and sugar (4.7 per cent).

As of January, the inventory levels in the processing and manufacturing were up 9.6 per cent, a little lower than the figure we saw at the same time last year, GSO noted.

Major industries reflected higher levels of inventory, included paper production (100 per cent); means of transport (74.4 per cent); beverages (59.5 per cent), electronics, computer production (37.8 per cent) and metal manufacturing (32.4 per cent).

Vu Quang Ha, a statistician at GSO said top priority should be given to accelerating consumption to further reduce inventory this year. Last year, the processing and manufacturing reported an average inventory index of 73.8 per cent. —VNS