In the first four months of 2016, the consumption index of local industry climbed 12.7 %, much higher than the 9.1 % seen in the first quarter of this year.
However, the climb in industrial production was still lower than the 9.6 percent rise recorded in the same period last year, GSO noted.
From January to April, the processing and manufacturing industry posted a yearly rise of 9.6 %, while electricity distribution and production increased 12.1 % year-on-year.
Industrial products that posted high IIP growth in the reviewed period included televisions (up 47 %), automobiles (up 24 %), steel and iron (up 18.5 %), animal feed (up 18 %) and cement (up 16 %).
IIP, however, declined for several products, such as mobile phones (down 10 %), fertiliser (down 6.5 %), crude oil (down 5 %) and sugar (down 1.2 %).
In the next few months, the world crude oil price is expected to stay low so it is a good chance for industrial entrepreneurs to restructure their production and business, cut production costs and improve quality of products before crude oil prices recover, Vu Ba Phu, head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Planning Department, said.
In addition, prices of some services for production, such as warehousing and transport, will decrease in the same period to create favourable conditions for production and business for the enterprises, he said.
Phu called on enterprises to strengthen their traditional markets, expand potential markets, actively look for human and financial resources and invest in technologies for developing material suppliers.
