The year-on-year increase of 17.5% was attributed to the previous Tet holiday (Lunar New Year) falling in January, resulting in a decrease in production activities, but this year's Tet will come later, in February.
The processing and manufacturing sector, which contributes approximately 70% of the country's total industrial output, saw a 19.4% year-on-year increase while the mining sector rose by 10.7% and the power sector went up by 20.9%.
Several sectors witnessing large increases over the same period last year include motor vehicle production (up 57.6%); computer, electronic and optical products (up 46.4%); and textiles (up 33.8%).
Key industrial products recorded high IIP increase such as telephones, up 91.1% against the same period last year, televisions up 88.7%, steel up 71%, automobiles up 69.6%, and others.
Thai Nguyen was the country's leading province posting a high year-on-year IIP with January’s increase of 523.5% over the corresponding period last year, which is mainly due to the expansion of the Samsung Electronics plant. It was followed by Quang Nam (up 46.4%), Binh Duong (up 19.4%) and Da Nang (up 19.2%).
