Industrial production up 10.5pc in six months

Among the key industrial products that posted high IIP increases in six months were raw steel and iron (43.7 pc); fabric (22.1 pc); sugar (19 pc); liquefied petroleum gas (18.5 pc); feed for seafood (17.8 pc); television (17 pe)

The metric was higher than the 7 per cent growth recorded in the same period last year, the GSO said.

The GSO attributed this year’s IIP growth to breakthroughs in the processing and manufacturing sector, which rose 12.7 per cent, contributing 9.7 percentage points to the overall IPP.

According to the GSO’s general director, Nguyen Bich Lam, the processing and manufacturing industry was a bright spot for the economy, driving the overall growth of the industry. “It is one of the three sectors, together with the agro-forestry-fishery and services, to achieve impressive growth and contribute a substantial 7.08 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the first six months of 2018, the highest rate in the first half of the year since 2011,” Lam said.

Some manufacturing sectors in the secondary industry enjoyed significant growth compared to the same period last year and contributed to the general growth of the whole industry sectors including, metal production (20 per cent), coal and refined petroleum products (20.3 per cent), electronics, computer and optical products (17.5 per cent), medicine, pharmaceutical chemicals and pharmaceutical material production (16.2 per cent).

Among the key industrial products that posted high IIP increases in the six months were raw steel and iron (43.7 per cent), fabric (22.1 per cent), sugar (19 per cent), liquefied petroleum gas (18.5 per cent), feed for seafood (17.8 per cent) and television (17 per cent).

However, some other sectors saw lower growth, especially wood processing and products made from bamboo (2.6 per cent).

Some sectors recorded industrial production declines. The stone-sand-gravel mining industry went down by 0.7 per cent; repair-maintenance and installation of machinery and equipment dropped by 2.7 per cent and crude oil and natural gas exploitation fell by 5.7 per cent.

Among the significantly reduced products, crude oil was down 10.9 per cent.

Running in parallel with the increase in industrial production in the first half of the year, the consumer index of the manufacturing and processing industry also posted an increase of 11.9 per cent over the same period last year. In addition, the inventory index fell to its lowest level in the last four years at 63.4 per cent, compared to 75.4 per cent; 70 per cent and 71.1 per cent in the first halves of 2015, 2016, and 2017.

Warning on downward trend in IIP growth rate

Lam also warned that the statistics showed a downward trend in industrial production when the IIP increased by 12.9 per cent in the first quarter of 2018 and 8.4 per cent in the second quarter compared to the same period of 2017. Likewise, the processing and manufacturing sector, which accounts for over 80 per cent of the whole industry, increased 15.7 per cent in Q1 and 10.1 per cent in Q2.

In the second half of the year, the IIP would see a downward trend as the mining and petroleum industry wouldl be down due to unfavorable weather conditions. Besides, the processing and manufacturing sector would slow because Samsung Electronics Viet Nam and Formosa Steel Corporation, which accounted for up to 40 per cent of the industry, had reduced production due to lower consumption, Lam added.