A worker at Duc Vuong Investment and Development Company in Thai Binh Province mans a cotton production line. — VNA/VNS Photo Danh Lam

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — The national index of industrial production rose 10 per cent in the first nine months of this year against the same period last year.

Further, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), the industrial production sector continued its growth, especially in the processing and manufacturing sectors, Nguyen Thuy Hien, deputy head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade's Planning Department, said at a meeting on reviewing production, business and investment in September, as well as the first nine months of 2015, held by the MPI on Friday in Ha Noi.

During the first nine months, the sectors of mechanisms and electronic equipment assembly grew 45 per cent in television output and 53 per cent in the output of assembled automobiles, in comparison to the same period last year, she said.

Meanwhile, output also surged by 11 per cent for each of the sectors of electric production and distribution and processing and manufacturing, 8 per cent for mining, and 7 per cent for water supply, waste management and treatment.

Also, during the first nine months the oil and gas industry saw an increase of 11 per cent in output of crude oil to 12 million tonnes, and 1.8 per cent in output of natural gas to eight billion cubic metres, compared with the same period last year.

However, other industrial sectors saw difficulties in production and business in the first nine months, including steel, cement and fertiliser, she said. The total crude steel output reached three million tonnes, or 99.8 per cent of the output in the same period last year, while output of urea fertiliser fell 1 per cent to 1.6 million tonnes, against output in the first nine months of 2014.

Reduction in prices

Regarding the price index of industrial production, the General Statistics Office (GSO) reported on Thursday that the nation had a quarter-on-quarter reduction of 0.14 per cent in the price index of industrial production in the third quarter.

The decrease was mainly due to the reduction in prices of producing mineral products, down 1.41 percent, and processing and manufacturing products, down 0.37 percent, according to GSO's Department of Price Statistics Vu Thi Thu Thuy.

Many other groups of processing and manufacturing products saw decreases in the price index of industrial production for the third quarter, including electronics (1.81 percent), metals (1.37 percent), chemicals (1.03 percent), processed food (1.01 percent), beverages (0.87 percent) and textiles (0.27 percent).

However, the price index for the group of producing and distributing electricity and the group of producing clean water and treating waste water in the reviewed quarter increased 1.94 percent and 0.46 percent, respectively. — VNS