Vietnam’s index of industrial production grew by 9.6 percent from the same period last year in the first two quarters of the year, announced the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

The processing and manufacturing industry, which picked up 9.95 percent from the same period in 2014, has made significant contributions to the surging industry growth, said Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang at a video-conference held on July 1, adding that the increase in input production has yielded stellar growth in the production sector.

Consumption of the processing and manufacturing industry also posted steady growth, rising 12.7 percent in the first five months of this year against the same period last year. High consumption was seen in motor vehicle production (35.5 percent), electronic and computing production (30.6 percent), metal production (23.3 percent) and textile production (14.5 percent).

As of June 1, the inventory index had rose 11.8 percent, 1 percent below that of 2014. Some industrial products with lower inventory levels include rubber and plastic products (down 7.3 percent) and electricity equipment production (down 2.1 percent).

However, production capacity of the country’s key industrial sectors such as electronics, garments, leather and footwear and car and motorbike assembling were limited due to dependence on imported materials resulting in high production costs.

To fulfil industrial production targets in the last six months of the year, the ministry will increase the application of science-technology and increase the use of locally-produced components, Minister Hoang said.

He highlighted that the ministry will look for consumption markets and foster inventory sales while calling for investment in the supporting industry sector to serve the demand of input materials and increase connectivity between enterprises in production and supply.-VNA