In the first four months of this year, the national index of industrial production (IIP)  increased 5.1 per cent year-on-year, the General Statistics Office (GSO) reported. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — In the first four months of this year, the national index of industrial production (IIP)  increased 5.1 per cent year-on-year, the General Statistics Office (GSO) reported.

That metric was far below the growth recorded in the same period in 2016 but higher than the increase of 4.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2017, GSO’s economic experts said.

In the January-April period, the processing and manufacturing sector’s production surged 9.2 per cent and the water supply and waste treatment industry was up 6.3 per cent, while mining fell 9.7 per cent.

A number of sectors enjoyed a surge in IIP, including metal production (47.5 per cent), metal product manufacturing (13.3 per cent), weaving (12.5 per cent) and engine vehicle production  (10.9 per cent).

Meanwhile, the industries of food production and processing, medicine and pharmaceutical chemistry, electronic, computer and optical product production witnessed slight IIP increases at 6.4, 4.5 and 4.2 per cent, respectively.

According to GSO, in April, the national IIP was estimated to rise 7.4 per cent. This index of the mining sector saw a drop of 5.6 per cent, while that of the processing and manufacturing industry rose 11.1 per cent. Electronic production and distribution was up 9.9 per cent and the group of water supply and waste treatment increased 6.5 per cent.

The northern city of Hải Phòng led the country in IIP growth with 20.4 per cent, followed by Thái Nguyên with 17.7 per cent; Đà Nẵng, 12.1 per cent; Hải Dương, nine per cent; Bình Dương, eight per cent; and Đồng Nai, 7.4 per cent. This indexes of HCM City and Hà Nội rose 7.1 and 5.9 per cent, respectively.

GSO said to continue growth in industrial production in the future, the industrial sector should increase the index of consuming products to reduce inventory because the inventory index of the sector in the first four months witnessed a year-on-year surge of 12.7 per cent.

Sectors with higher inventory than the country’s average included engine vehicle production at 158.9 per cent, metal production at 54.5 per cent, beverage production at 45.4 per cent, cement production at 39.7 per cent and paper and paper product production at 32.8 per cent. — VNS