Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Ha Noi, Nov. 5 (VNA)-- The national industrial production output recorded a year-on-year increase of 15.54 percent with the turnover of VND 165,944 billion (USD 11.85 billion) in the last 10 months.

The turnover represented an increase of at least 4.5 percent over the yearly target for 2000 of 9.5-11 percent set by the National Assembly.

Noteworthy was the equal growth among different economic sectors. Private industries led with an average rate of 18.34 percent, attributable to the enforcement of the Business Law and a number of fair-play supportive policies. They were followed by the foreign-invested sector, with an average growth rate of 17.46 percent. The State economic sector maintained a rate of more than 11 percent at the central level and 15.5 percent at the local level.

A core industry, electricity production, has managed to ensure good supply to both industry and private homes through an output of 20,946 million kWh, an increase of 12.2 percent over the corresponding period last year. Hydro-electricity plants have played a key role by producing 70 percent of the total output.

The coal sector has shown signs of recovery as 87 percent of production output was sold out, thus reducing the quantity of stockpiled end-productS down to 1.4 million tonnes and semi-products to 905,000 tonnes by the end of October. By last June, the industry had a total of almost 4 million tonnes of products unsold.

Garment and textile export value registered a year-on-year increase of 4.4 percent, to reach a value of USD 1,516 million, with its successful hold on a major share of the domestic market.

The leather and footwear industry was also among the most successful businesses with an increase of 6.1 percent to USD 1,173 million in export turnover.

However, several industries had to decrease their production due to difficulties in marketing. Take the steel and paper sectors, which suffered respective stockpiles of more than 240,000 tonnes and 12,000 tonnes in warehouses.

The stagnance in some industries has, however, not discouraged executives from striving for an overall target of 16 percent for this year.

They are reportedly concentrating efforts on removing obstacles in the process of bidding and budget disbursement for major projects. Executives have also been considering measures to expand market share, both at home and abroad, and boost supply of fertilizers and daily necessities, especially to flood-hit areas in the Mekong delta to help them quickly recover production and normal life.