Vietnam's manufacturing sector grows for three consecutive months

HANOI, Jan. 4 (Xinhua): The Vietnamese manufacturing sector continued to grow at a solid pace at the end of 2021, and saw job creation resume following a sustained period of falling employment, a report compiled by the London-based global information provider IHS Markit revealed on Tuesday.

The Vietnam Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) ticked up to 52.5 in December from 52.2 in November, signalling a third successive monthly improvement in business conditions. Moreover, the solid strengthening in the health of the sector was the most marked since May 2021, said the report.

A further solid increase in new orders was recorded at the end of the year, with the rate of growth broadly in line with that seen in November.

The improvements in customer demand seen since the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions at the start of the final quarter last year continued to fuel expansions in new business. The rise in new orders supported a further expansion in manufacturing output, although the rate of growth slowed amid ongoing pandemic-related disruption.

There was positive news on the employment front at the end of the year as job creation resumed following six months of declining staffing levels. Higher output requirements and efforts to rebuild workforces following the recent wave of the Covid-19 pandemic were behind the increase, according to the report.

"While firms were generally confident about the outlook for output in 2022, the new Omicron variant adds a further layer of uncertainty for the months ahead," Andrew Harker, economics director at IHS Markit, commented on the survey results.

A PMI reading above 50 indicates an expansion of the manufacturing sector compared to the previous month; below 50 represents a contraction; while 50 indicates no change. - Xinhua