Vietnam’s index of industrial production (IIP) rose 4.1% year-on-year in March and 5.7% in January-March, with the southern province of Tra Vinh recording stupendous growth, the General Statistics Office (GSO) reported Friday.
The first quarter (Q1) performance was driven by the manufacturing-processing sector with a 5.9% growth, electricity production and distribution with 12.1%, and water supply and waste-wastewater treatment with 4%. The mining sector fell 4.1% year-on-year.
Some sub-sectors with strong Q1 growth were chemicals and chemical products (up 28.4% year-on-year), plastics and plastic products (up 25.8%) and electrical items (up 24.8%).
Notably, the electronics, computers, and optical products sectors saw a 0.4% growth in Q1/2024 after ending 2023 with a 0.6% decrease.
Meanwhile, some sectors that fared relatively poorly included: crude oil-gas exploitation, down 8.6%; beverages, down 2.7%; and machine repair and installation, down 21.2%.
Locality-wise, the strongest performances in Q1/2024 were recorded by the southern province of Tra Vinh with a 102.7% year-on-year growth, followed by the central province of Khanh Hoa with 37%, and the northern provinces of Phu Tho and Bac Giang, with 26.6% and 23.9% growth, respectively.
Underperformers were northern provinces of Son La, Lai Chau, Ha Giang, and Hoa Binh, going down 32.2%, 19.6%, 11.8%, and 9.7%, respectively.