Vietnam’s industrial production index (IIP) saw relatively high growth
in the first quarter of this year, according to the General Statistics
Office (GSO).
The index grew 9.1 percent, compared with 5.3 percent in the first quarter last year and 4.9 percent in 2013.
GSO
analysts attributed the improvement to the industrial consumption
index’s strong growth in the first two months of this year. It rose 14.7
percent on the year, much more than last year’s 4.3 percent during the
same period.
The processing and manufacturing sector, which
contributed more than three fourths of overall growth, increased 9.6
percent, as opposed to 7.4 percent in Q1 last year.
About 61.5
million mobile phones were produced during the first quarter, doubling
last year’s output. Meanwhile, production of powdered milk fell by 16.8
percent.
Other industrial products posting high IIP increases
during Q1 included automobiles (52.6 percent), television sets (38.6
percent), food for aquatic products (27.4 percent), chemical paint (17.2
percent), leather and footwear (16.3 percent), fresh milk (16.2
percent), rolled steel (12.4 percent) and petroleum (9.8 percent).
Products
with low IIP included aquatic products and seafood (8.9 percent),
cement (5.9 percent), coal (3.2 percent) and natural gas (0.2 percent).
Sectors
with decreased IIP included sugar (0.1 percent), clothes (0.3 percent),
liquefied gas (6.5 percent) and motorbikes (11.8 percent).
The
country’s IIP increase is still low compared with increases of 14 to
16.17 percent before the world economic downturn period.
GSO
analysts attributed the slower growth to low product competitiveness.
Fake versions of domestic products were sold at much lower prices.-VNA