VINACHEM

Production lowered due to the modest 1.7 per cent growth rate experienced by the mining industry while the manufacturing and power-gas- water sectors experienced growth rates of between 11.9 and 10 per cent.

Unsatisfactory performance was additionally attributed to the slow consumption power experienced in the textiles, beverage, footwear, cement, fruit and vegetable processing industries, according to the GSO.

Meanwhile, the stockpile index of petroleum rose by 92.4 per cent against the same period last year while the indices of furniture and beverages surged by 84.4 per cent and 73.5 per cent, respectively.

However, some industrial sectors did manage to record significant growth rates over the January-July period including 18.2 per cent in fibre and cloth, 14.3 per cent in steel and 14.2 per cent in automobile production.

Earlier, Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang said that local industries, already feeling the pinch, were set to experience more hardships during the next several months.

An increase in global commodity prices on the back of rising oil prices was expected to have a serious impact on local manufacturing and production sectors, Hoang said.

He continued by saying that, in order to maintain growth rates, industrial producers needed to strengthen measures aimed at controlling inflation, using only domestically produced machinery and materials in order to minimise negative impacts resulting from dependence on imports. — VNS