Overall output by the country’s agriculture and forestry industries moved up slightly from a year earlier in 2013, with a rise in agriculture production more than offsetting a drop in the production of forestry goods, the government said Thursday.

The combined output by the agriculture and forestry industry came to about 46.65 trillion won ($45.79 billion) in 2013, up 0.6 percent from that of 2012, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

Such growth marks a significant slowdown from the 7.3 percent on-year gain in 2012. The output by the agriculture industry gained 0.7 percent on-year to some 44.61 trillion won, while output by the forestry industry slipped 0.9 percent to 2.04 trillion won.

Rice continued to be the single largest item in the agriculture industry, with 8.53 trillion won worth of rice produced last year, up 5.1 percent from a year earlier.

The increase may partly reflect a rise in prices, but the ministry earlier said the country’s total rice production had gained 5.6 percent on-year to a little over 4.23 million tons in 2013.

The output of pork, the second-largest item in the agriculture industry, dropped 6.3 percent on-year to some 5.01 trillion won in 2013, while that of beef rose 7.5 percent on-year to about 3.51 trillion won. (Yonhap)