VINACHEM

(VEN) - Good production results of the key industries in January signaled bright prospects for the Vietnamese economy in 2011. Statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Trade show that in January, the production value of the entire industrial sector totaled an estimated VND73.7 trillion, up 16.1 percent compared with January 2010 (the industrial production value of the non-State sector increased 18.9 percent; the foreign invested sector, up 18.5 percent; and the State-owed sector, up 6.7 percent).

In the past four years, the amount of electricity consumed by the industrial and construction sectors accounted for 55.5 percent of the total amount of power consumption in Vietnam. In January 2011, the output of most kinds of products catering for production rose intensively compared with January 2010, for example electricity up 14.3 percent, gas 36.2 percent, petroleum 98.6 percent, rolled steel 15.9 percent, steel billets 41.8 percent, cement 18.9 percent, diesel engine 57.4 percent, and fabric made of synthetic and artificial yarns 17.2 percent.

In January, the situation of electricity production and supply was relatively stable. The amount of commercial electricity supplied to domestic households was estimated to total 7.3 billion kWh, up 12.6 percent compared with January 2010. Predicting that the electricity sector will encounter numerous difficulties in 2011, the Prime Minister has made Official Note 167/CD-TTg asking the Ministry of Industry and Trade to focus on accelerating the implementation of power projects by providing guidelines for investors to seek loans from credit and financial institutions, and promote the application of power saving methods.

The output of oil and gas extraction in January 2011 was higher than in January 2010. Specifically, a total of 2.05 million tonnes of oil and gas were extracted in January 2011, three percent more than in January 2010. That included 1.25 million tonnes of oil (101 percent of the plan for January and three percent more than in January 2010), and 0.8 billion cu.m of gas (117 percent of the plan for January and 2.4 percent more than in January 2010). Notably, on January 6, 2011, the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group inaugurated the Dung Quat Oil Refinery - the first refinery of its kind in Vietnam. In January, the Dung Quat Oil Refinery produced an estimated 546,000 tonnes of products.

Reducing opencast mining and concentrating on underground coal mining, in January 2011, the output of clean coal was estimated at 3.7 million tonnes, down 0.3 percent compared with January 2010. However, activities catering for the exploration of coal were intensified. Following the Government's guideline to reduce coal exports, nearly one million tonnes of coal were exported in January 2011, down 26 percent compared with January 2010. Meanwhile, domestic sales of coal increased 3.2 percent to 1.86 million tonnes.

In January 2011, the output of steel production reached 493,300 tonnes, up 7.7 percent compared with January 2010. Notably, the output of rolled steel increased 15.9 percent.

Right in the first month of 2011, most domestic textile-garment companies signed export contracts for the first quarter of the year and some even received export orders for the first three quarters. This was a good sign for textile-garment exports in 2011. In January, textiles and garments took the lead among the key export products of Vietnam, bringing revenue of US$900 million, up 10.6 percent compared with January 2010. Happy news also followed for the footwear sector in January 2011, when the European Shoemakers' Association has publicly stated that it has not applied for an extension of the duties on certain kinds of Chinese and Vietnamese shoes, and the current measures would expire on April 1, 2011. Hence, the output of leather shoe production in January boomed (an estimated 33.1 million pairs of sports shoes were made, up 35.1 percent compared with January 2010).

Despite numerous difficulties, the above good results of industrial production allow Vietnamese people to be optimistic about the prosperity of the Vietnamese economy in 2011.