Industry hits a peak in October The manufacturing and processing sector rose to a record level in October, pushing up the whole country’s 10-month industrial production, a key driver for reaching the whole-year economic growth target.   The government last week reported that in October, the manufacturing and processing sector, which creates 80 per cent of Vietnam’s industrial growth, rose by a record 22.3 per cent year-on-year, doubling the rate of 11.9 per cent in the same period last year. The manufacturing and processing growth has led to a 13.6 per cent rise in this sector’s first-10-month figures, and a record 17 per cent ascension in the country’s October industrial growth – against the 7 per cent industrial growth of last October. This record growth has also created an 8.7 per cent rise in the country’s 10-month industrial growth, higher than the 7.7 per cent climb in last year’s corresponding period, and also higher than the 7.9 per cent of this year’s first nine months. Pham Van Can, director of Van Phu An JSC – specialised in producing garments and textiles in the northern province of Hai Duong – told VIR that in this year’s first 10 months, his firm’s total investment value increased 20 per cent year-on-year to about $6 million, with an export turnover surging up by 23 per cent year-on-year. “The economic situation is getting far better than that of previous years. We have benefited from the government’s pro-business policies since early last year,” Can said. This firm’s optimism is also reflected in the General Statistics Office’s (GSO) statistics that the local textile and garment sector – one of the key manufacturing and processing industries in the economy – has witnessed a year-on-year increase of 16.3 per cent in production and 32.8 per cent in consumption in this year’s first 10 months. Other industrial sectors have also strongly ascended in this year’s first 10 months, such as electronics and computers (29.3 per cent), steel (24.8 per cent), metal (18.6 per cent), and fertiliser (15.7 per cent). GSO stressed that electronics and computers contributed the most to the economy’s industrial growth. In October, the segment grew by a record 70 per cent year-on-year, with key driver Samsung – which is expected to generate an export turnover of about $54 billion this year – accounting for 26.73 per cent of Vietnam’s estimated $202 billion export turnover. The Korean giant’s contributions have also helped drive the 10-month industrial production growth of several provinces, such as Bac Ninh (32 per cent) and Thai Nguyen (18 per cent), which are home to Samsung projects worth about $8.7 billion in total. According to the government, the economy is likely to reach its 6.7 per cent growth target, thanks to strong growth in the economy’s key sectors this year, including in agro-forestry-fishery (up 3 per cent – a fourfold increase against 2016 to hit a record $35 billion in export turnover), industry and construction (up 7.17 per cent), and service (up 7.25 per cent – the highest rise since 2008). The manufacturing and processing sector is expected to rise by a record rate of 12.8 per cent year-on-year. And if the mining sector were not to suffer its projected decrease of 5.9 per cent, the economy’s growth figure would likely be 7.24 per cent, the government said. In this year’s first 10 months, the mining sector went down by 7.4 per cent year-on-year, while the exploitation of crude oil and natural gas decreased 9.6 per cent year-on-year. VIR