(Adds details on smartphones, footwear)
HANOI, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Vietnam's industrial output
and exports rose in February from a year earlier, partly helped
by higher footwear sales, in a possible sign of recovering
global demand for goods produced in the Southeast Asian
industrial powerhouse.
But indicating the caution among factory managers amid an
uncertain global outlook, production of smartphones and
cellphone parts, of which Vietnam is one of the world's biggest
producers, fell despite a rise in exports.
The country's statistics agency said on Tuesday that
Vietnam's exports rose 11% in February from a year earlier and
industrial output increased 3.6% in the same month.
The rise in output in February follows an 8% year-on-year
drop in production in January, when activity typically slows for
the week-long celebrations for the Lunar New Year.
In the first two months of the year, industrial production
was down 6.3% compared to the same period last year.
Smartphone output in the country which is home to major
Samsung factories was down nearly 10% on the year
and the output of cellphone parts fell by nearly 15%.
Smartphone exports, however, were up 14,7%, in a
possible sign that companies reduced their inventory in
February.
Footwear production rose by nearly 19% in February on
the year and exports climbed 4.1%, after a big fall in January.
In the first two months of the year shoe exports were still down
by 16% compared to the same period last year.
Taiwan's Pou Chen Corp , the world's largest
maker of branded sports footwear and a top supplier to Nike and
Adidas,
plans to cut
around 6,000 jobs in Vietnam due to weak demand, two local
officials familiar with the company's plans said earlier in
February.
In total, Vietnam's exports rose sharply in February to
$25.88 billion, after a 21.3% fall in January.
With imports dropping in February by 6.7%, the country
recorded a trade surplus of $2.3 billion in the month.
(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio and Phuong Nguyen;
Editing by Ed Davies)
