Vietnam’s industrial output grows 16% in January

Vietnam’s industrial output grew 16% in the first month of the year compared to the same period last year thanks to strong growth in key industrial sectors, authorities said Friday.

Nguyen Quang Ha of the General Statistics Office said the high-growth sectors included liquefied petroleum gas (36.2%), sports shoes (35.1%), ceramic tiles (32.5%), and auto and tractor tyres (26.8%).

Industrial output from non-state businesses increased 18.9% while production from foreign direct investment increased 18.5% compared with the same period last year.

Industrial output from the state-owned industries sector grew 6.7%, the lowest level among all sub-sectors.

However, January’s output fell 2.5% compared with December, to 73.7 trillion dong (3.5 billion dollars).

Nguyen Tien Nam, of the General Statistics Office, said output dropped because December was the peak month when all companies sped up production to meet consumption demands for the Lunar New Year. Vietnamese people buy a lot of goods for the holiday period, which runs from February 1-8 this year.

The increase in industrial output in the first month of the year was a sign of possible high-speed growth in the industrial sector this year, the state-run Viet Nam News quoted Ha as saying.

The country’s industrial production grew at an average of 15-17% over the eight years before the global economic downturn.

Tags: Vietnam industrial output