The industrial output of Hanoi fell this month as enterprises scaled back operations for the Tet (lunar new year) holiday.

The industrial production index in January was 86 percent of December 2011 level and 99 percent of the level in January of 2011, according to the Hanoi Statistics Office.

Economists attributed the decline to the impact of the global economic downturn as well as the long new year holiday. Industrial producers had also ramped up output in December to anticipate holiday demand, resulting in an inevitable fall-off in January.

Most major industrial sectors saw declines in output, including garments, paper, pharmaceuticals and bathroom fixtures. Breweries saw a reduction of 25.6 percent in output from previous month and a decline of over 38 percent compared to the same time last year.

However, some products saw increases in output, including machinery and equipment, up 21.4 percent, and tobacco, up 15.5 percent.

Industrial production for all of last year increased against the previous year, according to the statistics office, with automobile production rising by over 33 percent, production of bathroom fixtures and tobacco by about 23 percent each, and beer production by 8.6 percent. The city was also projecting an increase of 9.3-10.4 percent in the production of prefab industrial buildings this year./.