THE NATIONAL FOOD AUthority (NFA) expects rice prices to remain stable in the lean months of July to September because of adequate inventory.

NFA estimated the country’s rice inventory as of June at 2.683 million metric tons.

NFA administrator Jessup Navarro said yesterday in a statement that this was enough to meet the country’s food security and stabilization requirements for 76 days.

The minimum inventory required for the lean months is 30 days, and for the harvest months of summer, 15 days.

Of the total 2.683 million metric tons, NFA warehouses hold a combined 1.25 million metric tons as of end-June.

On the other hand, commercial and household stocks are placed at 446,900 and 986,100 metric tons, respectively.

Navarro said that with the NFA still distributing rice this off-season, prices were expected to stay below last year’s levels.

Retail and wholesale prices of well-milled rice went down by as much as 16 and 17 percent, respectively, from last year’s level.

Well-milled rice retails today at about P32.94 a kilo, down from last year’s P39.25 per kilo.

Regular milled rice, on the other hand, goes for P30.16 a kilo from P36.84 last year.