The index of industrial production (IIP) in the first two months of this year increased by 6.2 per cent over the same period last year.

The Covid-19 epidemic had a strong negative impact on industrial production activities, said the General Statistics Office (GSO).

Due to the effects of the Covid-19 epidemic, the source of input materials imported from China for some industries was reduced compared to the time before the outbreak.

At the same time, Vietnamese exported goods, which have large consumption turnover in China, are obstructed at border gates with China.

The processing and manufacturing sector increased by 7.4 per cent, contributing 6 percentage points to the general increase.

Power production and distribution increased by 8.4 per cent, contributing 0.7 percentage points.

Water supply, waste management and treatment increased by 4.9 per cent, contributing 0.1 percentage points.

Mining and quarrying dropped by 3.7 per cent, down 0.6 percentage points in the general increase.

However, some key products of foreign direct investment (FDI) enterprises saw growth in production.

Telephone components increased by nearly 30 per cent. Mobile phones increased by 25.5 per cent, of those, smartphones increased by 3.2 per cent.

Clean coal increased by 10.3 per cent and electricity production increased by 8.6 per cent.

GSO economic experts said that the number of employees working in industrial enterprises had risen since the beginning of last month compared to January, mainly in the non-state sector with an increase of 0.6 per cent and 3.6 per cent in FDI enterprises.

This implied that enterprises were ready to recover production after the Covid-19 epidemic eased. — VNS