Industrial production rises 12% at start of 2015

The growth rate, which was 5.4% during this time last year, nearly doubled, GSO economists said, adding that various sectors showed signs of stable performance.

In the first two months, the consumption index which reflects domestic demand, increased 18.7% year-on-year, much higher than 3.4% last year during the same period.

The manufacturing and processing industries, which contributed up to 9.1 percentage points to the overall growth, expanded by 12.9%.

About 37.9 million units of mobile phones were produced during two months, up 89.3% year-on-year. Production of television sets reached 700,000 units, an increase of 64.1%, while automobiles hit 22,100 units, a rise of 52.1%.

The yield attained in case of raw iron and steel was 464,200 tonnes, up 47.6%, and the quantity of chemical paint reached 103,300 tonnes, rising by 33.3%.

In case of certain goods, gains were either slow or even declined, however, due to decreasing demand or stiffer competition from imported products.

Crude oil exploitation reached 2.76 million tonnes, an increase of 9.7%, and NPK fertiliser production reached 325,300 tonnes, a rise of 1.4%.

Motorbikes production reached 557,500 units and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) production reached 114,000 tonnes, both declining by 8.9%, while beer production reached 457 million litres, down by 1.2%.

GSO experts said developments in the domain of industrial production were still potentially uncertain as the number of enterprises failing to survive economic obstacles soared this year.

More than 14,000 companies had to cease operations during the first two months, up 25% year-on-year, while more than 2,000 firms were dissolved, a year-on-year rise of 8.7%.

More enterprises were set up this year, even though the registered number was 2,330 less than the number of failed firms.

The newly-established companies have an average equity of VND5.6 billion (US$267,000), while the capital of failed businesses averaged VND10 billion (US$476,000).