Vietnam industrial production grows 6.8% in Jan-May, driven by electricity, manufacturing

Vietnam’s index of industrial production (IIP) grew 8.9% year-on-year in May and 6.8% in the first five months of this year, the General Statistics Office reported Wednesday.

The 6.8% is an improvement from negative 2% in January-May 2023, but worse than 8.1% in January-May 2022 and 10% in the five-month period of 2021, the post-pandemic recovery phase.

The figure was 1.7% in the same period of 2020, the pandemic peak in Vietnam.

In the first five months of 2024, the IIP growth was driven by a 12.7% hike in the electricity production and distribution sector, a 7.3% increase in the manufacturing-processing sector, and a 6.3% rise in the water supply and waste-wastewater treatment sector. However, the mining sector fell 5.2%.

Sub-sectors with strong performances included plastics and plastic products with 27.4%, production of electrical appliances with 24%, and chemicals and chemical products with 20.1%.

Some notable sub-sectors with below-average performances were electronics, computers, and optical products with 5.8%, food processing with 5.4%, and beverages with 0%.

Locality-wise, the strongest performances in the period were recorded by the southern province of Tra Vinh with a 68.3% year-on-year growth, followed by the central province of Khanh Hoa with 49.1%, and the northern provinces of Phu Tho and Bac Giang, with 30.2% and 24.6% growth, respectively.

Underperformers were the northern province of Son La, which fell 27.5%, the central province of Quang Ngai, falling 8.3%, and the northern province of Hoa Binh, dropping 7%.

Notably, Bac Ninh province, home to some Samsung factories, recorded an IIP growth of 0.05%, breaking the 0% barrier.