Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam’s index of industrial production (IIP) in thefirst quarter of this year gained the highest year-on-year growth rate of 11.6percent in the past three years.

This was reported by the General Statistics Office (GSO).

The index saw a year-on-year growth rate of 9.3 percent in the first quarter of2015, 8.2 percent in the first quarter of 2016 and 5.1 percent in the firstquarter of 2017.

At a press conference on March 29 reporting the country’s socio-economicperformance in the first quarter, GSO director Nguyen Bich Lam said the highgrowth of the industry contributed to maintaining the domestic economicdevelopment since the previous year.

The manufacturing and processing sector, accounting for 90 percent of theindustrial value, saw the strongest IIP growth at 13.6 percent since 2012. Therobust growth of IIP contributed significantly to the 7.38 percent growth rateof the gross domestic product in the first quarter of this year, the bestfirst-quarter performance in the last 10 years.

Lam said the manufacturing of electronic products, computers and opticalproducts as well as steel production contributed strongly not only to thegrowth of the industry but also to overall economic development.

In the first quarter of 2018, the mining sector experienced a growth rate of0.4 percent in IIP due to the recovery of coal, metal and gas production, aftertwo consecutive years of IIP reduction.

Electricity production and distribution had a stable IIP growth rate of 10.5percent, while IIP increased 13.7 percent for the textiles and garment industryand 12.8 percent for beds, wardrobes and tables.

Some major industrial products posted high growth in the first three months of thisyear, including raw steel, powdered milk, television and fish feed.

However, some other products recorded a low growth or reduction in IIP, such asanimal feed, fertilisers and crude oil.

According to GSO, the high growth rate of industrial production in the firstquarter of this year was partly due to the high growth rate of consumptionmarket at 14.2 percent year-on-year, with high consumption of pharmaceuticals,electronic products, computers and motor vehicles.

The high consumption supported lower growth in inventory at 6.4 percent in thefirst quarter of this year compared to the growth rate of 13.5 percent in thesame period last year.

In the first quarter of 2018, the industry had low inventory of motor vehicles,electrical equipment, paper and paper products, leather and leather products,drugs and pharmaceuticals.-VNA