HANOI, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam's national index of industrial production (IIP) rose by 2.4 percent year-on-year in the first two months of 2017, lower than that of 6.6 percent compared to the same period of 2016, according to the latest report of the General Statistics Office (GSO).
The electricity production and distribution saw a year-on-year growth of 9.3 percent while processing and manufacturing sector registered a 6.6 percent increase. The water supply and waste treatment sector also expanded by 6.6 percent, but the mining industry suffered a strong drop of 13.5 percent, said the office.
Several main industrial products achieved good year-on-year growth, such as rolled steel (up 35.4 percent), television (16.7 percent), automobiles (15.2 percent) and apparels (14.3 percent).
Products that saw reductions in output compared to the same period last year included cell phones (down 8.9 percent), coal (6.3 percent) and liquefied petroleum gas (8.5 percent), refined sugar (10.2 percent), and crude oil (15.6 percent) among others.
In the two-month period, several localities with large-scale industrial production reported growth, such as northern Hai Phong city (17.2 percent), northern Thai Nguyen province (10.1 percent), central Da Nang city (9.6 percent), northern Hai Duong province (9.4 percent), southern Binh Duong and Dong Nai provinces (5.9 percent), southern Ho Chi Minh City (5.8 percent), capital Hanoi (5.1 percent) and southern Can Tho city (4.9 percent).
As of Feb. 1, the inventory index of the manufacturing and processing sector increased by 13.3 percent from the same period last year. Some sectors with surges in inventory index included paper and paper-products with a 106.9 percent rise, beverage (66.6 percent), electronic products, computers and optical products (61.3 percent).
Also as of Feb. 1, the number of workers at industrial enterprises rose 2.5 percent from one year ago. The private sector saw 1 percent expansion in its workforce, the foreign-invested sector reported a 4.4 percent growth, while the state-owned sector saw its workforce shrink 1.9 percent, said GSO.
