China's food industry stable in Jan-May

BEIJING - China's food industry remained generally stable in the first five months of the year, data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology showed.

Retail sales of grain, oil and food from January to May reached 620.59 billion yuan ($88.66 billion), up 13.4 percent from a year earlier. Sales of beverages stood at 81.93 billion yuan during the period, an 8.5-percent year-on-year growth.

In May alone, the value-added industrial output of food manufacturers saw an increase of 6.3 percent year on year, while beverage and refined tea manufacturers registered a 0.6-percent growth.

From January to May, profits of food companies with annual operating revenue of more than 20 million yuan came in flat compared to the same period last year, hitting a total of 210.27 billion yuan.