The country's industrial production increased by nearly 10 per cent this year. — File Photo

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Viet Nam witnessed a growth rate of 9.8 per cent year-on-year in index of industrial production (IIP) for this year, an official of the General Statistics Office (GSO) said.

The growth in IIP this year was the highest over the past three years, Nguyen Bich Lam, head of GSO, said. The IIP reached a year-on-year increase of 5.9 per cent in 2013 and 7.6 per cent in 2014.

Industrial production in all quarters of this year was between 9.2 per cent and 10.2 per cent. The processing and manufacturing sector, accounting for 70 per cent of the national total industrial output, surged 10.9 per cent as compared with last year.

Many industrial products registered a high growth rate as against last year because of higher consumption in the domestic and export markets. These included automobiles with a growth of 54.5 per cent, mobile telephones of 31.6 per cent, steel products of 18.6 per cent, and milk powder of 18.5 per cent, in addition to fresh milk which grew 15.4 per cent, animal feed, 16.5 per cent, and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) at 15.7 per cent. The other products that witnessed high growth rates were electricity at 11.6 per cent and cement at 10.7 per cent.

Lam said the increase in consumption was a good sign for industrial production and also the economy because that meant inflation was low.

The consumption price index (CPI) this year rose by 0.63 per cent against 2014, lower than the National Assembly's target of 5 per cent for 2015, according to the GSO. The low CPI growth rate supported production and sale of goods at low prices.

Higher consumption also ensured that the industrial sector's goods inventory this year registered a lower growth of 9.5 per cent against 10 per cent in 2014.

Some provinces and cities reached high growth rate of the IIP such as Thai Nguyen, which was up 97 per cent, Quang Nam at 35.3 per cent and Hai Phong at 16.6 per cent.

However, Lam said a stable growth in industrial production would be affected by reduction in the world oil prices and fall in global consumption.

The GSO reported that some industrial products reported a lower growth rate or reduction in production, of which the output of motorcycles dropped 12.7 per cent in comparison with last year. — VNS