Vietnam’s economic situation in October and 10 months of 2005

1. Output of agriculture, forestry and fishery

a. Agriculture:

Cultivation: As of 15 October 2005 provinces in the North harvested 810.4 thousand ha of winter rice crop, equaling 131.5% of last year’s same period and occupying 67.1% of planted areas, of which provinces in North Central Coast: 171 thousand ha, equaling 132.6% and accounting for 90%. As of this moment, provinces are quickly finishing harvesting the late summer-autumn rice crop and the 3^rd crop, achieved 2167.6 thousand ha, equaling 97.5% of last year’s same period and occupying 93.7% of sowed areas, of which Mekong River Delta: 1797.6 thousand ha, equaling 98.8% and accounting for  92%.

Along with harvesting summer-autumn rice crop, provinces in Mekong River Delta sowed 293.8 thousand ha of winter rice crop in the year 2005 – 2006, equaling 87.6% of last year’s same period. Taking advantage of the good weather, provinces in the North cultivated 162.8 thousand ha of maize, equaling 101.6% of last year’s same period; 48.5 thousand ha of sweet potato, equaling 106.6%; 50.9 thousand ha of soy bean, equaling 139.1%.

Livestock: in October, localities continue deploying the work of inoculation vaccines against poultry flu plague in large areas. In general, this inoculation is still slow due to lack of vaccines, the implementation in quarantine of the herd of poultry moving in some localities is not very good.

b. Forestry

In 10 months, the total areas of new planted forest achieved 161.8 thousand ha, approximately equal to last year’s same period, the number of separated plants was 187.1 million, increased by 0.3%; gross output of wood increased by 0.2%

c. Fishery
Generally for 10 months, production of fishery was estimated at 2,793 thousand tons, increasing by 7.8 % as compared with last year’ same period, of which farmed products were 1,093.5 thousand tons, increasing by 15.3%, caught products: 1,699.7 thousand tons, increasing by 3.5%.

2. Industrial output

Industrial production value in 10 months achieved 351.1 trillion VND, increasing by 16.7% against last year’s same period, of which state owned enterprises increased by 9.1%, non-state sector by 24.5% and FDI sector by 18.4% (oil and gas decreased by 7.3% but others increased by 27.8%).  Main industrial products still maintained high increased rate against last year’s same period: pure coal increased by 20%, processed seafood by 15 %, tinned milk by 16.5%; fertilizer by 35.6%, enameled tile by 17.1%; steel by 21.1%, machine tools by 41.9%, assembled automobiles by 43.3%. Additionally, some main industrial products of the economy increased slowly against last year’s same period: cement increased by 10.4%; electric motors by 13.4%; hosiery by 8.2%; cloths only by 0.4%…Notably, in 10 months some products decreased strongly against last year’s same period: crude oil decreased by 8.4%; sugar by 23.4%; diesel motor by 21.3%; transformer by 7.4%; assembled television by 8.1%; bicycle by 10.5%…

3. Investment

Capital construction investment under the concentrated State budget in 10 months in 2005 was estimated at 46,766.4 billion VND, accounting for 90.1% of the year plan of which central investment gained 17,468.1 billion VND, accounting for 87.8% of the year plan; local investment gained 29,298.3 billion VND, accounting for 91.5% of the year plan. In the total central investment fund in 10 months, the Ministry of Transportation accounted for 30.6%, equaling 92.9% of the year plan; the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development 10.6%, equaling 100.8% of the year plan…Some Ministries had small fund proportions but the investment rate was low compared with the year plan: Ministry of Fishery achieved 59.5%, Ministry of Education and Training gained 61.3% and Ministry of Health gained 63.4%…

Foreign direct investment: from 1^st January to 21^st October 2005 there have been 659 newly granted license projects with a total capital registered 2.98 billion USD, on average a project newly licensed achieved 4.5 million USD. By kind of economic activity, in the industrial and construction sector there were 433 projects (accounted for 65.7% in number of projects) with a total capital registered 1,350 million USD (accounted for 45.2% in capital registered). Up to now there have been 39 countries and territories licensed to invest in Viet Nam. There have been 403 projects increased capital with a total capital increasing by 1,603 million USD. General counting for newly granted capital and extra increasing in 10 months achieved 4,585 million USD. Investment fund in 10 months were about 2,784 million USD.

4. Trade, prices and services

Total retail sales of goods and services for 10 months in 2005 were estimated at 384.55 trillion VND (at current prices), increasing by 20% over last year’ same period, of which the state sector increased by 1.7%; the collective sector accounted for 1% of the total, increasing by 19.5%; the individual sector: 62.5% and by 21.2% respectively; the private sector: 19.7% and by 29.9% respectively; the FDI sector increased by 29%.

October consumer prices rose 0.4% over previous month; 7.2% against last December and 8.3% over last year’ same period.

Compared with last December, October consumer prices increased by 7.2%, continuing being higher than the 6.8% increased rate of September, of which following groups went up rapidly: food and foodstuff: 8.8% (food 5.3% and foodstuff 10%), transport and communication 10.1%, housing and construction material 8.4%; other groups increased at a common rate of around 4%; only the culture, sport and entertainment group rose by 2.2%.

October gold prices rose 4.1% over previous month, 2.6% against last December and 11.2 % over same period last year. USD prices were rather stable and slightly increased only for the three indices: 0.1% over last month; 0.7% over last December and 0.8% over same period last year.

Ten months export values gained 26.45 billion USD, increasing by 21.9% against same period last year, of which the domestic economic sector gained 11.25 billion USD and increased by 14.1%, the foreign investment sector (excluding crude oil) 8.97 billion USD and 25.1%; crude oil 6.23 billion USD and 33.5%. Of the total, the export values of 7 great turnovers items: crude oil, textiles, footgear, and fishery, electronics and computer, rice and wood products gained 15 billion USD and increased by 22.6% over same period last year, contributing 15,6 points  percent  of 21.9 points percent to export growth. Crude oil privately contributed 7.2 points percent.

Export markets of Vietnam for nine months were stable and most markets, chiefly big ones rose up against same period last year: the United States 16.7%, Japan 28.7%, Singapore 28%, and China 7.1%.

Total ten months import values were 30.52 billion USD, increasing by 18.3% against same period last year, and equaling 83.6% of the year plan. Of which, the domestic economic sector gained 19.34 billion USD and increased by 14.9%; the foreign invested sector 11.18 billion USD and 24.8% respectively. Up to now, the import values of each month on average are 3.05 billion USD. Such a raising is mainly due to high costs of imported items.

International arrivals to Vietnam for ten months were estimated at 2.85 million, increasing by 20.3% against same period last year, of which visitors coming for tourist purpose were 1.67 million, accounting for 58.6% of the total, and increasing by 32.3%; for visiting relatives 15% and 10.6%; for other purposes 12.4% and 20.7% respectively; Only visitors coming for business decreased by 6.4%.

Tags: Vietnam economic 2005, Vietnam economic statistics, Vietnam's economy situation