Industrial output hits record high

June’s monthly Index of Industrial Production (IIP) hit a record high this year, surging 12.7 per cent against the same period last year, the General Statistics Office (GSO) reported.

June was the first month the IIP, which has been on trial for the last two years, was officially used to replace industrial production value that was calculated on the basis of the base year of 1994.

With a record high in June, IIP in the first six months of the year increased 9.7 per cent against the same period last year. This increasing rate was higher than that in the same period of the past few years. The rise in the first half of last year was 8 per cent and the figure in 2009 was 4.5 per cent.

Based on the old method, the country’s industrial production value in H1 also surged 14.3 per cent against the same period last year to VND418.5 trillion (US$19.9 billion), higher than the Government’s annual 14 per cent target.

GSO deputy director Nguyen Bich Lam said that manufacturing and processing industries, which account for nearly 70 per cent of the industrial sector’s total added value, contributed the most to the nation’s high IIP in June with a surge of 16.3 per cent, and helped the industries’ IIP in H1 to surge 12.7 per cent.

Although the June sales figures are not yet available, GSO estimated that it would perform well after the optimistic results of last month. In May, sales in the manufacturing and processing industries surged 41.8 per cent from the same period last year, achieving the highest level in the past few years. May’s figure lifted the industries’ sales index in the first five months of the year to 17.5 per cent against the same period last year.

As of June 1, the stockpile index of the manufacturing and processing industries had only risen 15.9 per cent against the same period last year. The index as of early June last year surged up to 27.5 per cent against the same period of 2009.

In the first half of 2011, production and distribution of power, gas and water also increased by 14.3 per cent against the same period last year. Electric production alone reached 48 trillion kWh, up 10.4 per cent.

However, the petroleum and coal mining industries saw a slow growth rate of 2.8 per cent in the first six months. GSO also forecast the industry’s production would continue at a modest rate in the coming years, in accordance with the Government’s instruction to gradually reduce the exploitation of natural resources.

Despite the growth, the Ministry of Planning and Investment said that high input costs have reduced profits and caused a negative impact on business performance of industrial producers for the past six months.

Meanwhile, Ha Noi’s industrial production value is estimated to reach VND57.89 trillion ($2.8 billion) in the first half of this year, increasing 12.8 per cent compared with the same period last year, the capital General Statistical Bureau data showed.

The non-State sector earned VND18.74 trillion ($912 million), an increase of 11.9 per cent.

Although facing with many difficulties, the sector had kept steady and still maintained good production, bureau director Cong Xuan Mui said.

Maintenance and growth of the sector, including limited and private companies, co-operatives, joint-stock and household businesses, had contributed to the development of the capital industry.

Production value in limited companies rose 11.3 per cent, joint-stock 13.5 per cent and household business 9.8 per cent.

Mui said production value from traditional handicraft villages remained stable.

However, in the first half of the year many villages, particular carpentry villages, had faced difficulties due to the price fluctuations and increases in the cost of electricity and gas.

This had caused many household businesses to delay investing in higher production. — VNS

Tags: Vietnam industrial output, Vietnam industries, Vietnam industry