South Korea’s rice production grew 5.6 percent on-year in 2013 as favorable weather conditions and little damage from typhoons led to a bumper harvest, government data showed Friday.

According to the data by Statistics Korea, South Korea produced a total of 4.23 million tons of rice this year, up from 4.01 million tons tallied a year earlier. This represented the first on-year output growth since 2009.

The hike is attributable to favorable weather conditions and little damage from typhoons. Last year, the country’s southwestern areas where large rice paddies are located were severely affected by typhoons and torrential rains.

The statistics agency said that the area where rice is grown declined over the past year but enhanced production efficiency also played a role in increasing rice output.

The data showed that the country’s rice-growing area shrank 1.9 percent on-year in 2013, but the amount of rice harvested from 1,000 square meters of land increased 7.4 percent to 508 kg from the previous year’s 473 kg. (Yonhap News)