Industrial production saw off 2011 with impressive achievements with industrial index increasing by 6.8% over 2010. However, in the first months of 2012, a lot of difficulties are posing to the sector. According to the statistical figures, industrial index in January 2012 was reduced by 12.9% as against the previous month and by 2.4% as against the same period last year, in which the mining industry increased by 0.5%; the processing industry was reduced by 4.2% and gas and electricity production and distribution increased by 1.2%.

Industrial production will face a lot of difficulties in January 2012 as affirmed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade at a press conference held in Hanoi recently. It is due to the unfavorable climatic conditions with long cold spell, affecting greatly production and people’s life, let alone the Tết days lasted much longer than usual. However, with constant efforts of the sector, production in some industries still rose impressively as against the same period last year such as pharmaceutical manufacturing with an increase of 12.5%; aqua products processing and preserving, 10.2%; automobile and motorbike production, 9.9%; water exploitation, distillery and distribution, 9.6%.


Also in January 2012, index of consumption of the processing and manufacturing industries continued to increase, for example, consumption index of motorized vehicles was up by 183.3%; sugar, by 38.3%; bricks, tiles and ceramics, by 31.8%; butter and milk, by 16.2% and motorbikes and cars, by 16.2%.

Worthy of note is that a lot of items of goods that got ready for the consumption of the Lunar New Year Tết are now in stock due to the reduced purchasing power. This is becoming a big challenge to industrial production in 2012 now. According to the statistical figures, the index of goods in stock in January 2012 of the whole processing and manufacturing industries increased by 19.3% as against the same period last year, in which cement production in stock increased by 72.7%; cigarettes and tobacco, by 54.8%; animal feed, by 36.5% and motorbikes and cars, by 31.4%.

It is due to the high index of goods in stock that many industries are now operating perfunctorily. Take the steel industry sector for example, even though its output in January 2012 was put at 502,000 tones, a 1.4% increase over the same period last year, many businesses in the sector operated only 80% of their full capacity, whereas the real estate market has still seen no sign of recovery with no optimistic signal, thus causing difficulties to the steel producing industry. As for the electronic industry, there is also no sign of considerable development, heralding a lot of difficulties to the sector.

The target of the industrial sector in 2012 is to continue to push ahead the average growth rate together with the acceleration of high quality. To this end, the whole sector should push ahead the transfer of the economic structure in the direction of high quality, effectiveness and competitiveness with attention being focused on automated engineering; electronics-telecommunication-informatics; chemical and pharmaceutical and the food and foodstuff processing industries. At the same time, there should be mechanism and policy encouraging businesses to make their investments in manufacturing and development technologies.

The challenges in 2012 are looking large with advantages and difficulties, opportunities and challenges being overlapped, thus demanding the whole sector to make greater efforts in management to push ahead the national economic development./.