HÀ NỘI – Việt Nam’s index of industrial production (IIP) saw a low growth rate of 7.5 per cent in the first half of the year, the General Statistics Office (GSO) has said.

The growth rate was much lower than the 9.7 per cent registered in the same period last year.

The GSO said the sharp decrease in the IIP was due to the mineral sector which saw a sixth consecutive drop in as many months. The sector’s IIP witnessed a decrease of 2.2 per cent in the first half of the year while prices of minerals, crude oil, coal and other materials reduced sharply.

However, the main reason for the drop in growth of the sector was the decreasing crude oil output in the six-month period.

Processing and manufacturing rose 10 per cent, while electricity production and distribution rose 11.7 per cent, and water supply and waste treatment rose 8.1 per cent.

In June alone, the IIP rose 7.4 per cent from last year, in which, the mineral sector saw reduction in growth by 6.1 per cent, while manufacturing and processing, and water supply and waste treatment, rose 11.3 per cent and 7.6 per cent, respectively.

Some industries reported higher IIP in the six-month period in comparison to the corresponding period last year. These included metal production at 19.7 per cent, electronics and computers at 17.9 per cent, and automated vehicles at 15.3 per cent.

Accordingly, in the first half, some industrial products were estimated to register high growth. These were television sets by 69.9 per cent, automobiles by 27.2 per cent, rolled steel by 22.7 per cent, and steel bars at 22.1 per cent, in addition to cement at 17.7 per cent.

The northern Thái Nguyên Province has shown the highest IIP growth rate in the period with 40.3 per cent, followed by Quảng Nam Province at 35.8 per cent. Trailing them were Cần Thơ Province at 24.6 per cent, Hải Phòng City at 16.9 per cent, Bắc Ninh Province at 13.5 per cent, and Đà Nẵng City with 11.1 per cent, in addition to Bình Dương Province with 8.4 per cent, Hải Dương Province with 8.2 per cent, Đồng Nai Province with 7.9 per cent and Hà Nội with 7.4 per cent.

The consumption of the manufacturing and processing sector in May rose 5.2 per cent from the previous month, 7.8 per cent higher than the same period last year.

In the first five months of the year, the consumption in this sector posted an 8.8 per cent year-on-year rise.

Other sectors also saw higher consumption from the corresponding period last year such as electronics and computers at 15.2 per cent, vehicles at 14.2 per cent, and metals at 13.7 per cent.

GSO’s statistics revealed that the inventory index of the processing and manufacturing sector in the last six months rose 9 per cent from the same period last year.

Some sectors showed higher inventory indices than the common level, including vehicles at 115.3 per cent, electronics and computer production at 69.6 per cent, and paper products at 33.4 per cent.

The number of workers employed at industrial companies in the first half of the year rose 5.9 per cent from last year. The number of labourers in State-owned enterprises dropped by 0.4 per cent, while those in non-governmental and foreign direct invested firms rose 3.6 per cent and 8.9 per cent, respectively.

The number of workers in the mineral sector from January to June reduced 3.6 per cent from the same period last year. The labour in the processing and manufacturing sector rose 6.7 per cent, electricity production and distribution saw an increase of 8.6 per cent, and water supply and waste treatment rose 2.9 per cent.

The northern Thái Nguyên Province had the highest number of the industrial companies registering an increase of 35.3 per cent, while Hải Phòng rose 9.9 per cent, Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu 8.6 per cent, and Đồng Nai 8.3 per cent, in addition to Bình Dương rising 5.7 per cent, and Đà Nẵng and Quảng Nam, which rose 4.5 per cent and at 4 per cent, respectively. – VNS