HANOI, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam's national index of industrial production in January surged 20.9 percent on-year, according to the country's General Statistics Office on Wednesday.
Main driver of the surge, the processing and manufacturing sector, went up 23.8 percent, contributing 17.5 percentage points to the overall growth. Meanwhile, electricity production and distribution sector grew 15.4 percent, contributing 1 percentage point, and mining sector grew 10.5 percent, contributing 2.3 percentage points.
In January, television sets witnessed the largest output expansion of 62.9 percent, followed by powder milk (up 51 percent), shower gel and facial cleanser (34.1 percent), synthetic cloth (33.8 percent), cement (29.7 percent), raw steel and iron (28.4 percent), and coal (27.1 percent). Meanwhile, outputs of urea fertilizer went down 8.6 percent, and crude oil dropped 10.6 percent.
Among Vietnam's 63 cities and provinces, central Da Nang city posted the highest industrial production growth of 48.7 percent in January, tailed by northern Bac Ninh province (47.2 percent), northern Hai Phong city (31.3 percent), northern Quang Ninh province (29 percent), central Quang Nam province (26.3 percent), and northern Vinh Phuc province (24.5 percent).
Vietnam's industrial production index in 2017 advanced 9.4 percent against 2016, said the office.
