BEIJING — China's food industry logged steady growth in terms of production and sales in the first four months of the year, official data showed.

The value-added industrial output of the agricultural and sideline food processing sector rose 4.7 percent year-on-year during this period, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

The added value of the food manufacturing sector climbed 4.5 percent year-on-year, while that of alcohol, beverage and tea manufacturing sectors went up 9.2 percent from a year earlier.

During the January-April period, retail sales of grain, oil and food commodities hit 593.6 billion yuan ($87.96 billion), up 9.5 percent year-on-year, while that of beverage as well as tobacco and alcohol grew by 10.4 percent and 7.8 percent, respectively, the data showed.