The growth in industrial production was evidence of a sound recovery in the industrial sector after the global economic crisis in 2009, said GSO industrial experts.

In the first two months of this year, the foreign-invested sector reported a rise of 15.4 percent to VND47.76 trillion (US$2.6 billion) in industrial production value, followed by the private economic sector, which increased by 15.1 percent to VND41.72 trillion and the State owned economic sector, which rose by 8.1 percent to VND25.22 trillion.

The production and distribution of electricity in the reviewed period rose by 19 percent to 12.9 billion kWh due to increasing demand, the office said.

Car tyres rose in production value by 86.2 percent, air conditioning units by 85.7 percent, glass production by 74 percent, paper and cardboard by 57 percent, cement by 36 percent, the number of motorbikes by 40 per cent, and cotton fibre by 31.8 percent.

Meanwhile, a number of industries saw declines in production value, including crude oil (down 20 per cent); and coal (down 12.3 percent). Sugar, vegetable cooking oil and fertiliser production fell by between 1.2 percent and 4.5 percent.

However, experts said current growth levels were unsustainable due to the stockpiling of goods, the increasing cost of raw materials and the weakness of the Vietnamese dong.