Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam’s index of industrial production (IIP) saw a year-on-year increase of 8.8% over the past eight months, extending the recovery of the sector, the General Statistics Office (GSO) has reported.

The processing and manufacturing industry rose by 9.7%, electricity production and distribution soared 11.6%, while water supply, waste and wastewater management and treatment activities were up 7.8%. Meanwhile, the mining sector was down 6%.

In August alone, the IIP increased 2% month-on-month and 9.5% year-on-year, the GSO stated.

The GSO noted that over the past eight months, some key industrial sectors reported an IIP higher than the same period last year, including rubber and plastic products up 30%; chemicals and chemical products (17.8%); textiles (13.4%); electronics, computers and optical products (10%); and goods production and processing (7.3%).

At the same time, the IIP of some key industrial products also surged, including iron and crude steel, up 31%; fabrics (16%); sugar (14%) and oil and gas (13%).

In contrast, several other products witnessed an IIP fall year-on-year, including liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) down 15%; crude oil (7%); mobile phones (5.2%) and coal (3%).

Among 63 centrally-run cities and provinces nationwide, 61 experienced a growth in IIP over the past eight months, while the remainder reported an IIP reduction.

Many experts attributed those positive results to the Government's measures aimed at pushing public investment disbursement and the development of key industrial projects, along with FDI attraction and disbursement efforts, which have also helped improve domestic production capacity.

The number of workers in industrial enterprises as of August 11 increased by 0.9% month-on-month and by 4.5% year-on-year.

In particular, the number of workers in the State-owned enterprise sector remained unchanged compared to the same time last month and rose by 1.5% year-on-year.

The number of workers in non-State enterprises also increased by 0.6% on month and 1.8% on year, while the number in foreign-invested enterprises increased by 1% on month and 5.7% on year.

Earlier, the S&P Global Vietnam Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) posted 52.4 points in August, down from 54.7 points in July but still signaling a solid monthly improvement in business conditions midway through the third quarter.

Strong growth in new orders and softer cost pressures led manufacturers to increase purchasing activity sharply during August. The rate of growth also accelerated for the fourth month, the fastest growth rate since May 2022.

Manufacturers remained optimistic that output will increase over the upcoming year based on expectations of further improvements in cusﷺtomer demand and new orders./.