A production line of canned drinks at Viet Nam Suntory Pesico Company branch in Tra Noc 2 Industrial Park, southern Can Tho City. The country's index of industrial production (IIP) in March has a month-on-month increase of 23.8 per cent and a year-on-year surge of 6.2 per cent.— Photo vietnamplus.vn

HÀ NỘI (VNS) — Domestic business groups, corporations and enterprises should focus on intensive industrial development to create industrial products with a national brand and high competitiveness on the world market.

Deputy minister of industry and trade Trần Tuấn Anh said this at the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT)’s monthly meeting held in Hà Nội yesterday.

At the meeting, the MoIT’s Planning Department reported that the index of industrial production (IIP) in March had a month-on-month increase of 23.8 per cent and a year-on-year surge of 6.2 per cent.

The IIP, in the first quarter, gained a year-on-year growth rate of 6.3 per cent, the department said.

Vũ Bá Phú, head of the Planning Department, said that in the first quarter, some industries achieved high growth rate in the IIP, which included metal production with a rate of 23.1 per cent, paper production at 14.8 per cent and textile at 12 per cent.

The industries also saw high consumption in the first quarter against the same period of last year such as beverage, textile, metal production and medicine production, Phú said. But some other industrial products such as garment, paper and transport vehicles saw reduction in consumption.

However, Phú said the growth rate at 6.3 per cent in the IIP for the first quarter was low against an increase of 9.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2015 mainly due to reduction in crude oil exploitation and low growth rate in production from groups of electronic products, computer and electric products.

Low electricity supply volume in the industrial and construction fields affected the economy.

Phú said that in the next few months, the world crude oil price was expected to stay at low so that was a good chance for industrial entrepreneurs to restructure their production and business, cut production costs and improve quality of products before crude oil prices recover.

In addition, prices of some services for production such as warehouses and transport would decrease against the same period to create favourable conditions for production and business of the enterprises, he said.

Especially, enterprises should strengthen their traditional markets, expand potential markets, actively look for human and financial resources, and have investment in technologies for developing material suppliers, he said.

Deputy minister of industry and trade Trần Tuấn Anh said that the enterprises under the ministry should follow global and local markets and consult state offices to solve difficulties in production and business of local firms, and promote exports in the future.

They should also improve competitiveness, reform technology and promote restructuring, Anh said, while the state would develop policies to attract foreign investment, improve domestic production skills and increase exports.

Price index

The price index of industrial production fell during the first quarter of this year by 0.73 per cent quarter-on-quarter, and 1.01 per cent year-on-year, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

The reduction of the price index in the first quarter was partly due to lower prices of all three major industrial products, including mining products, which dropped 3.9 per cent against the previous quarter, processing and manufacturing products, which fell 0.13 per cent, and electricity and electric distribution, which was down 1.35 per cent.

The office said that another reason for the decrease in the IIP was price reduction in crude oil and iron ore on the world markets.

However, the price index for the group making up clean water, waste water, and waste water and rubbish treatment, increased by 0.41 per cent quarter-on-quarter, the office said. — VNS