Industrial production in January-July expanded at 2.6 per cent, the lowest rate since 2016. — Photo tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn

HÀ NỘI — Industrial production struggled in July, expanding at just 3.6 per cent over June and 1.1 per cent over the same period last year, the lowest rate since 2013, latest updates of the General Statistics Office (GSO) revealed.

For the January-July period, the index of industrial production (IIP) increased by 2.6 per cent, much lower than the expansion of 9.4 per cent recorded in the same period of 2019 and also the lowest rate in many years.

The global outbreak of COVID-19 together with the reoccurrence in some provinces and cities of Việt Nam in the past two weeks pushed industrial production activities into difficulties again, causing disruptions in supply chains, despite a robust growth in June when the virus was successfully contained. In comparison, IIP in June expanded by 10.3 per cent against May and 7.2 per cent against the same period last year.

For the seven-month period, the manufacturing and processing industry rose by 4.2 per cent, compared to 10.7 per cent of the same period last year, electricity production and distribution up 2.1 per cent, water supply and waste treatment up 3.3 per cent.

Several industries saw significant drops. The mining industry production fell by 7.8 per cent, causing a drop of 1.2 percentage point in overall IIP expansion rate.

The production of motor vehicles dropped by 15.4 per cent, crude oil and gas down by 11.3 per cent and beverage products by 6.3 per cent.

Of note, the production of medicine, pharmaceutical chemicals and medicinal materials was up by 27.1 per cent.

The number of labourers woking in industrial production companies as of July 1 was 1.3 per cent higher the previous month but 1.8 per cent lower than the same period last year.

Experts predicted that the industrial production might continue to struggle in the remaining months of this year, especially when COVID-19 community transmissions have reoccured in Việt Nam and the Government must strive to contain the virus. — VNS