Vietnam's industrial production increases 11.4 pct in 4 months

HANOI, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam's national index of industrial production surged 11.4 percent on-year in the first four months of this year, according to the country's General Statistics Office on Sunday.

Main driver of the surge, the processing and manufacturing sector, went up 14 percent, contributing 10.6 percentage points to the overall growth.

Meanwhile, electricity production and distribution sector grew 9.7 percent, contributing 0.9 percentage point, and water supply and waste management grew 5.5 percent, contributing 0.1 percentage point.

In April, raw steel and iron witnessed the largest output expansion of 38.2 percent, followed by synthetic cloth (up 26.2 percent), powder milk (20.7 percent) and television sets (17.5 percent).

Meanwhile, outputs of crude oil went down 9.4 percent, shower gel and facial cleanser down 5.4 percent, and urea fertilizer down 3.8 percent.

The northern Bac Ninh province posted the highest industrial production growth of 33.4 percent in the first three months this year compared to the same period last year, tailed by northern Hai Phong city (24 percent) and northern Vinh Phuc province (13.5 percent).

Vietnam's industrial production index in 2017 advanced 9.4 percent against 2016, said the office. Enditem