The ministry's figures showed that industrial production last month rose 4.4 per cent over July. The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) in the eight-month period increased 5.3 per cent year-on-year.— Photo nld

HA NOI (Biz Hub)— Viet Nam's industrial production is on the mend, with growth recorded in the manufacturing and processing sectors.

Huynh Tat Thang, deputy head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade's Planning Department made a positive speech at a Ha Noi conference yesterday reviewing the sectors' activities in the first eight months of the year.

The ministry's figures showed that industrial production last month rose 4.4 per cent over July. The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) in the eight-month period increased 5.3 per cent year-on-year.

The beverage production, natural gas exploitation, paper and chemical production sectors saw a high growth rate.

Thang stated that the inventory index of processing and manufacturing sectors rose 9 per cent against the corresponding period last year.

The milk production inventory rose 25.7 per cent while that of automobiles and motorbikes rose 81.6 per cent.

However, he added that some industries are still facing difficulties, including steel, fertiliser and chemicals despite industrial production recovery. Nguyen Tien Nghi, vice chairman of the Viet Nam Steel Association said his sector had coped with high inventories because of decreasing consumption.

The association has taken measures to prevent businesses which sold their products for less than production costs, thus causing unhealthy competition in the market, Nghi said. He claimed that some producers would be forced to increase their selling prices this month to create fair competition.

More steel exports

He added that steel consumption in July rose 3 per cent due to exports, justifying the association's decision to enhance exports to reduce inventories.

The most difficult challenge facing the sector was to increase consumption for its products, he said, adding that they have requested the Government to enforce stimulus solutions.

The association has sought a natural resources tax reduction from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment while proposing to more strictly prevent smuggled steels entering from China.

The ministry also revealed that exports last month hit $11.5 billion, bringing the total export revenues in the first eight months of the year to $84.82 billion, a 14.7 per cent rise over the same period last year.

It said import turnover last month rose 5.2 per cent to $11.8 billion. Total import turnover in the period reached $85.4 billion, increasing 14.9 per cent over the corresponding period last year. The country saw $577 million of trade deficit in the period. Participants said export turnovers in the period were lower due to decreasing prices of key export items.

Pham Van Bay, vice chairman of the Viet Nam Food and Foodstuff Association, said the world rice market negatively affected Viet Nam as abundant supply from India and Thailand has led to rice prices decreasing.

He said the association had targeted traditional markets while negotiating big contracts to pull the price higher and added that 521,000 tonnes of rice were exported last month and the average price decreased 15 per cent.

The ministry said it would focus on attracting investment into supporting industries and simplify administrative procedures on certificates of origin and market expansion to meet the export turnover target of $128 billion this year. — VNS