BEIJING - China's food industry reported stable expansion in terms of production and sales in the first five months of 2021, data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) showed.

The value-added industrial output of food manufacturers rose 10.7 percent year-on-year in the January-May period, and that of agricultural byproduct processors went up 10.9 percent, according to MIIT.

In the first five months, retail sales of the food industry witnessed robust growth, with that of grain, oil and food up 9.5 percent year-on-year to 661.63 billion yuan ($102.19 billion).

Retail sales in the beverage sector surged 29.2 percent year-on-year to 107.35 billion yuan, while sales in the tobacco and alcohol sector registered a 35.4 percent yearly increase to 187.72 billion yuan, MIIT data showed.

In the first four months of the year, food enterprises with annual revenues of more than 20 million yuan raked in profits of 208.24 billion yuan, up 29 percent year-on-year.