The index of industrial production (IIP) in the first quarter continued to flourish with a year-on-year increase of 7.07 per cent, the General Statistics Office said.

The positive rise, much higher than the 6.44 per cent seen in Q1/2021, contributed 2.42 percentage points to the economy's growth in Q1/2022.

The processing and manufacturing industry had a yearly IIP rise of 7.79 per cent.

Meanwhile, the IIP growth of the electricity production and distribution industry stood at 7.42 per cent, and water supply and waste and wastewater treatment and the mining industry reached 6.54 and 5 per cent, respectively.

Key industries that recorded high increases in Q1 include clothing (up 24.1 per cent); machinery and equipment (16.2 per cent); metal production (10.1 per cent); electronics, computers and optical products (9.4 per cent) and other non-metallic mineral products (8 per cent).

On the contrary, several industries saw a decline in industrial production, such as rubber and plastic products, down 15.5 per cent; repair, maintenance and installation of machinery and equipment (12 per cent); coke and refined petroleum products (11.7 per cent) and crude oil and natural gas (2.2 per cent).

Among industrial products with strong IIP increases were telephone components with 19 per cent, automobiles (13.4 per cent), aluminium (12.6 per cent), and steel (11 per cent).

Some products decreased compared to the previous year, including televisions (23.3 per cent); gasoline and oil (12.5 per cent); aquatic feed (11.7 per cent); mobile phones (9.3 per cent); NPK fertiliser (6.6 per cent) and paint (5.7 per cent).

The GSO also said the consumption index of the processing and manufacturing industry in Q1 rose 6.6 per cent compared to last year's corresponding period. In March, the index increased 19.1 per cent month-on-month and 11.2 per cent year-on-year.

The average inventory rate of the processing and manufacturing industry in the first three months was 79.9 per cent, higher than the 75.1 per cent recorded last year.

As of March 1, the number of employees working in industrial enterprises rose 2 per cent month-on-month and 3 per cent year-on-year.

Labourers in State-owned enterprises decreased 3.3 per cent year-on-year, while those in non-State firms slumped 3 per cent, and foreign-invested businesses increased 4.3 per cent.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade said it was necessary to ensure an adequate supply of raw materials for energy production, business recovery, and socio-economic development in the coming months.

The ministry recommended removing obstacles to important industrial projects and maximum support for factories to maintain production, keep orders, and maintain the supply chain.

The industry and trade sector would also effectively implement the Government's solutions to remove difficulties for businesses and help them restore financial and labour resources.

The ministry said it would speed-up large public investment projects, especially projects on energy and infrastructure for industrial development, developing markets for several key manufacturing industries such as steel, engineering, construction materials and automobiles. — VNS