The index of industrial production (IIP) in the first quarter continued to flourish with a year-on-year increase of 7.07 percent, the General Statistics Office said. 

The positive rise, much higher than the 6.44 percent seen in Q1/2021, contributed 2.42 percentage points to the economy's growth in Q1/2022. 

The processing and manufacturing industry had a yearly IIP rise of 7.79 percent.

Meanwhile, the IIP growth of the electricity production and distribution industry stood at 7.42 percent, and water supply and waste and wastewater treatment and the mining industry reached 6.54 and 5 percent, respectively. 

Key industries that recorded high increases in Q1 include clothing (up 24.1 percent); machinery and equipment (16.2 percent); metal production (10.1 percent); electronics, computers and optical products (9.4 percent) and other non-metallic mineral products (8 percent).

On the contrary, several industries saw a decline in industrial production, such as rubber and plastic products, down 15.5 percent; repair, maintenance and installation of machinery and equipment (12 percent); coke and refined petroleum products (11.7 percent) and crude oil and natural gas (2.2 percent).

Among industrial products with strong IIP increases were telephone components with 19 percent, automobiles (13.4 percent), aluminium (12.6 percent), and steel (11 percent).

Some products decreased compared to the previous year, including televisions (23.3 percent); gasoline and oil (12.5 percent); aquatic feed (11.7 percent); mobile phones (9.3 percent); NPK fertiliser (6.6 percent) and paint (5.7 percent). 

The GSO also said the consumption index of the processing and manufacturing industry in Q1 rose 6.6 percent compared to last year's corresponding period. In March, the index increased 19.1 percent month-on-month and 11.2 percent year-on-year.
The average inventory rate of the processing and manufacturing industry in the first three months was 79.9 percent, higher than the 75.1 percent recorded last year.

As of March 1, the number of employees working in industrial enterprises rose 2 percent month-on-month and 3 percent year-on-year.

Labourers in State-owned enterprises decreased 3.3 percent year-on-year, while those in non-State firms slumped 3 percent, and foreign-invested businesses increased 4.3 percent.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade said it was necessary to ensure an adequate supply of raw materials for energy production, business recovery, and socio-economic development in the coming months.

The ministry recommended removing obstacles to important industrial projects and maximum support for factories to maintain production, keep orders, and maintain the supply chain.

The industry and trade sector would also effectively implement the Government's solutions to remove difficulties for businesses and help them restore financial and labour resources.

The ministry said it would speed-up large public investment projects, especially projects on energy and infrastructure for industrial development, developing markets for several key manufacturing industries such as steel, engineering, construction materials and automobiles./.