AsemconnectVietnam - The index of industrial production (IIP) in Hanoi rose by just 2.3% year on year in the first half of 2023, making it a heavy task for the city to reach the year’s IIP growth target of 7.5 - 8%.

 During H1, several processing and manufacturing sectors expanded compared to the same period last year such as beverages up 24.5%; pharmaceuticals, pharmaceutical chemistry, and medicinal materials 17.4%; and products made from cast metals 9.9%. Meanwhile, a number of other industries contracted, including machinery and equipment down 31.6%, printing and copying 9%, leather and related products 5.6%, and textile 5%, according to the municipal Department of Industry and Trade.

The sales of industrial products also fell 1.3% during the period, leading to a year-on-year increase of 16.9% in the inventory index as of June 30.

Meanwhile, Hanoi recorded 8.1 billion USD in export, down 2.7% from a year earlier. The overseas shipments of such main commodities as textile - garment, timber and wood products, footwear, and leather products declined.

Nguyen Thi Phuong, Director General of the Song Phuong Trading and Manufacturing JSC, said that declining orders, difficult sales, high material expenses, and unstable power and fuel supply have affected production and business activities.

Acting Director of the Department of Industry and Trade Tran Thi Phuong Lan said the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russia - Ukraine conflict, and tightened monetary policies have affected the global economy. As a result, the Vietnamese economy has also been impacted as seen in decreasing exports, lower purchasing power in the domestic market, and a growth slowdown in production and business activities.

In that context, Hanoi has sustained industrial production growth faster than the national average, but the pace is much slower than this year’s target, she noted, pointing out obstacles to functional industrial clusters, the construction of new ones, and the development of many industrial sectors.

To accelerate the recovery of industrial production in the remaining months of 2023, the Department of Industry and Trade will coordinate with relevant associations, businesses, and units to learn about difficulties, causes, and demand of local enterprises. They will devise solutions to bottlenecks to speed up industrial production growth, with a focus on the projects, plans and programmes that support the development of key and supporting industries, Lan noted.

She said her department will organise training courses to help industrial enterprises improve the capacity of governing, marketing, integrating into the world economy, accessing advanced technologies, exporting to key markets, and capitalising on free trade agreements, thereby promoting their competitiveness.

It will work with related agencies to build a plan on holding the Hanoi supporting industry show 2023, which will feature workshops and activities connecting businesses and helping them attract investment.

Besides, municipal departments and agencies, along with district-level authorities, will work to complete infrastructure of existing industrial clusters and accelerate the building of new clusters to create conditions for enterprises to expand operations, according to the official.

Nguyen Van, Vice Chairman of the Hanoi Supporting Industries Business Association (HANISBA), held that amid export difficulties, apart from measures taken by authorities, enterprises should also enhance their connectivity with one another to boost the sales of each other’s products and foster their synergy so as to be capable of fulfilling bigger orders, further engage in supply chains of foreign and large firms, and facilitate sales./.