Industrial production index picks up 7.5 pct in first five months. (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) in the first five months of 2016 picked up 7.5 percent from the same period last year, with May’s figure increasing 7.8 percent year-on-year.
According to the General Statistics Office of Vietnam (GSO), metal production led all sectors with growth of 18.9 percent, followed by computers, electronic and optical products (17.5 percent), furniture (17 percent) and textiles (16.3 percent).
Several products saw higher growth than the same period last year, including televisions (42 percent), automobiles (28.6 percent), and cattle feed (17.5 percent while others edged down, for example, motorbikes (2.3 percent), footwear (2.9 percent), sugar (3.4 percent) and crude oil (4.5 percent).
Thai Nguyen province registered the largest IIP expansion of 39.9 percent. Quang Nam province came second with 37.9 percent, followed by Can Tho city (19.8 percent), Hai Phong (13.7 percent) and Bac Ninh (13.5 percent).
The two major economic hubs – Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City – saw increases of 7.4 percent and 6.4 percent, respectively.
As of May 1, the inventory level of manufacturing and processing industry rose by 8.7 percent year on year, lower than last year’s figure of 11.5 percent, the GSO said. Sharp rises were witnessed in computers, electronic and optical products (104.9 percent), vehicles (65.5 percent), and paper products (36.1 percent).
The number of workers in industry increased 6.1 percent year-on-year.-VNA
