Vietnam’s industrial production is expected to improve in the secondquarter of this year as many domestic enterprises step up raw materialimports for production, said Nguyen Tien Vy, an official from theMinistry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).
The planningdepartment director told a meeting in Hanoi on April 1 thatinventory levels in the steel industry have fallen sharply and hoveredat about 280,000 tonnes. He said many garment and textile enterpriseshave already received stable orders for the second quarter and arenegotiating for the third.
In the first quarter, the indexof industrial production (IIP) reached a low level of 4.9 percent,compared with 5.9 percent in the correspondent period last year.
Vy said inventories began to increase in March, adding that the rate formanufacturing and processing industries was 16.5 percent higher thanthose of the same period 2012.
Sectors with highinventories included electricity cable (62 percent), metal components(35.5 percent), motor vehicles (37.3 percent), concrete, cement andplaster (28 percent), and chemicals (27.4 percent).
Heattributed the reduction of industrial production to the 9-day-long Tet(Lunar New Year) holiday and to economic difficulties.
Vietnam is expected to have a trade surplus of 482 million USD in thefirst quarter of this year with a total export turnover of 29.68 billionUSD, a year-on-year rise of 19.7 percent.
Ministry statisticsshowed that the surplus will mainly come from the foreign directinvestment (FDI) sector. The domestic sector saw imports exceed exportsby more than 2.6 billion USD while FDI businesses had a trade surplus of3.1 billion USD.
MoIT Deputy Minister Tran Quoc Khanhsaid the FDI sector helped the export value of mobile phones andcomponents hit 4.48 billion USD, and electronic products, 2.42 billionUSD.
However, the nation’s key export products slowed, with riceexport value falling by 3.1 percent and fishery products down 5.5percent.
A rice reserve of 1 million tonnes helped push up therice price by 100-300 VND per kilogramme, said Nguyen Minh Toai,director of the Department of Industry and Trade of the Mekong Deltacity of Can Tho .
But many enterprises did not buy ricedirectly from farmers and profits mostly fell into the hands ofintermediaries, he said, urging an increase in the floor rice price tobe considered carefully to improve farmer’s incomes.
MoITMinister Vu Huy Hoang said the ministry will further assist enterpriseswith capital, administrative procedures and markets to help themovercome the hard time.
“The ministry will keep a close watch onmarket changes so that it can advise enterprises when to limit businessrisks,” he said. “We will also take necessary steps to assure goodsreserves to prevent falls in export prices.”
Hoang urged organisations to strengthen promotional activities to boost consumption and reduce inventories.
“Drastic measures must be taken during the remainder of the year sothat the year’s target can be fulfilled, especially when the nation’smajor export markets, including the US, the European Union and Japanhaven’t shown any clear signs of recovery,” said Khanh.
Accordingto economic expert Nguyen Minh Phong, domestic enterprises shouldenhance their competitiveness, especially raising the added value oftheir products.-VNA
The planningdepartment director told a meeting in Hanoi on April 1 thatinventory levels in the steel industry have fallen sharply and hoveredat about 280,000 tonnes. He said many garment and textile enterpriseshave already received stable orders for the second quarter and arenegotiating for the third.
In the first quarter, the indexof industrial production (IIP) reached a low level of 4.9 percent,compared with 5.9 percent in the correspondent period last year.
Vy said inventories began to increase in March, adding that the rate formanufacturing and processing industries was 16.5 percent higher thanthose of the same period 2012.
Sectors with highinventories included electricity cable (62 percent), metal components(35.5 percent), motor vehicles (37.3 percent), concrete, cement andplaster (28 percent), and chemicals (27.4 percent).
Heattributed the reduction of industrial production to the 9-day-long Tet(Lunar New Year) holiday and to economic difficulties.
Vietnam is expected to have a trade surplus of 482 million USD in thefirst quarter of this year with a total export turnover of 29.68 billionUSD, a year-on-year rise of 19.7 percent.
Ministry statisticsshowed that the surplus will mainly come from the foreign directinvestment (FDI) sector. The domestic sector saw imports exceed exportsby more than 2.6 billion USD while FDI businesses had a trade surplus of3.1 billion USD.
MoIT Deputy Minister Tran Quoc Khanhsaid the FDI sector helped the export value of mobile phones andcomponents hit 4.48 billion USD, and electronic products, 2.42 billionUSD.
However, the nation’s key export products slowed, with riceexport value falling by 3.1 percent and fishery products down 5.5percent.
A rice reserve of 1 million tonnes helped push up therice price by 100-300 VND per kilogramme, said Nguyen Minh Toai,director of the Department of Industry and Trade of the Mekong Deltacity of Can Tho .
But many enterprises did not buy ricedirectly from farmers and profits mostly fell into the hands ofintermediaries, he said, urging an increase in the floor rice price tobe considered carefully to improve farmer’s incomes.
MoITMinister Vu Huy Hoang said the ministry will further assist enterpriseswith capital, administrative procedures and markets to help themovercome the hard time.
“The ministry will keep a close watch onmarket changes so that it can advise enterprises when to limit businessrisks,” he said. “We will also take necessary steps to assure goodsreserves to prevent falls in export prices.”
Hoang urged organisations to strengthen promotional activities to boost consumption and reduce inventories.
“Drastic measures must be taken during the remainder of the year sothat the year’s target can be fulfilled, especially when the nation’smajor export markets, including the US, the European Union and Japanhaven’t shown any clear signs of recovery,” said Khanh.
Accordingto economic expert Nguyen Minh Phong, domestic enterprises shouldenhance their competitiveness, especially raising the added value oftheir products.-VNA
