Hanoi (VNA) - Industrialproduction was greatly affected by COVID-19 in the first half of 2020 but hasgradually bounced back since May, according to the General Statistics Office(GSO).

Industrial production value rose 2.71 percentyear-on-year in the first half, with an increase of 5.1 percent in the firstquarter followed by just 0.74 percent in the second, as the economy was hithardest by the coronavirus outbreak.

Processing and manufacturing was up 4.96 percentin the January-June period - the slowest first-half pace since 2011, electricityproduction and distribution up 3.04 percent, and water supply, waste, andwastewater treatment up 3.76 percent. Meanwhile, mining shrank 5.4 percent.

Pham Dinh Thuy, Director of the GSO’s IndustrialStatistics Department, said COVID-19 disrupted the supply of input materialsfor industrial production, especially processing and manufacturing, from manycountries.

Government Decree No 100/2019/ND-CP, which setsstricter fines for road and railway traffic violations and took effect onJanuary 1, changed alcohol consumption habits and subsequently affectedbeverage production, he noted.

Several industries saw sharp declines inproduction during the first half, including motor vehicle (16.4 percent), crudeoil and natural gas (11.3 percent), the repair, maintenance, and installationof machinery and equipment (9.5 percent), and beverage (8.8 percent).

Others grew and contributed to overall growth,such as the manufacture of medicines, pharmaceutical chemicals, and medicinalmaterials (27.9 percent), the production of coke and refined petroleum products(15 percent), metal ore mining (13.3 percent), the production of electronic andoptical devices (9.8 percent), and pulp and paper production (9.1 percent).

GSO Deputy General Director Nguyen Thi Huongsaid that because the pandemic was brought under control early in Vietnam,economic sectors have begun returning to normal and industrial productionregained growth momentum since May.

To achieve faster growth in the months to come,she suggested ministries, sectors, and localities step up the reform ofprocedures to help business’s access support policies, assist them in seekingmaterial supply sources, and encourage consumers to purchase locally-madeproducts./.