Vietnam’s industrial production falls 9.2% in Jan due to Lunar New Year holiday

Vietnam’s index of industrial production (IIP) grew 0.6% year-on-year in January but fell 9.2% from a month ago, the General Statistics Office (GSO) said Thursday.

The Lunar New Year holiday (Tet) took place in January so the number of working days was lower, it noted.

The year-on-year growth of 0.6% in January 2025 was weaker than 18.3% in January 2024, 2.4% in January 2022, 22.2% in January 2021, but higher than negative 8% in January 2023 and negative 5.5% in January 2020.

The GSO elaborated that the IIP was driven by the manufacturing-processing sector going up 1.6% year-on-year, electricity production and distribution up 0.4%, and water supply and waste-wastewater treatment up 9.2%.

Only the mining sector fell in the period, down 10.4%.

Some sub-sectors with strong growth were vehicle production with 33.8%; furniture with 10.6%; leather and leather products with 10.3%; electronics, optical items, and computers with 3.8%.

Some sectors recorded negative growth, namely coal mining with negative 20.1%, crude oil and natural gas exploitation with negative 6.5%, pharmaceuticals with negative 29.1%, electrical items with negative 11.5%.

Many industrial hubs of Vietnam posted negative month-on-month growth in January, such as Bac Ninh province down 15.5%, Bac Giang down 16.3%, Dong Nai province down 5.9%, Binh Duong down 13.5%, Hanoi down 8.3%, Ho Chi Minh City down 9%. Thai Nguyen province bucked the trend with a 4% growth.

The S&P Global Vietnam Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell to 48.9 in January, the second month in a row below the 50-point no-change mark, S&P Global said.

“The deterioration in operating conditions was modest, but slightly more pronounced than was the case in the previous survey period,” S&P Global added.