Posted on 31 Oct 2008
The country’s industrial production growth rate at the end of October was much lower than for the same period last year, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).
While in previous months, the accumulated growth rate over the same period last year never dropped under 16 per cent, it was at 15.8 per cent with industrial production value coming in at VND547 trillion (US$33.2 billion) for the first ten months of the year.
Experts from the GSO accredited the fall to the effects of the world financial crisis, and skyrocketing inflation. Inflating prices has reduced purchasing power.
Foreign-invested firms contributed 41.1 per cent to the country’s total industrial production value, and saw a growth rate of 17.8 per cent over the corresponding period of last year.
With non-State enterprises accounting for 35.5 per cent of the country’s total industrial production value, the sector recorded the highest growth rate at 21.1 per cent.
State-owned enterprises recorded the lowest growth rate of only 5.5 per cent, according to the GSO.
Key industries were able to keep a stable growth rate, including the electricity sector that produced 62.1 billion KWh, up 12.2 per cent over the same period last year. The cement sector reported producing 29.7 million tonnes of cement, an increase of 10.7 per cent.
Other industrial products with high growth rates included aquaculture, washing powder, automobiles, clothing and refrigerators. Their growth rates ranged from 17.2 per cent to 64.2 per cent.
Growth rates of crude oil and steel continued to drop. Within those10 months, the country exploited more than 11.8 million tonnes of crude oil, down 8.1 per cent over the same period last year. Because of low demand, the country produced only around 3.32 million tonnes of steel, down by 7.7 per cent.
According to experts, the country’s industrial production growth rates may continue to fall.
They noted that it was difficult to control the drop because purchasing power since the beginning of the year had been losing value.
Moreover, the consumption of Vietnamese goods in the international market in the first 10 months of the year recorded a loss.
In October, export turnover was just $5.1 billion. This number stood at around $6 billion in previous months.
