PH rice stocks swell due to imports

The country’s rice stocks inventory for July increased by more than 31 percent from year-ago levels as more imports came in following the passage of the rice tariffication law.

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority’s latest monthly report, the country’s rice buffer during the period reached 2.62 million metric tons (MT), exceeding the previous year’s level of 1.99 million MT and enough to meet the country’s daily requirement for 81 days.

Of the total inventory, 41.9 percent came from commercial warehouses while 38.4 percent were in the households. NFA depositories contributed 19.7 percent of the total stocks, a majority of which were imports commissioned by the agency last year.

A total of 967,000 MT of rice had passed through the Bureau of Customs since the passage of the rice tariffication law, generating about P5.89 billion in taxes. That number is expected to swell as the country enters the lean months when local rice harvest is almost nil.

Stakeholders see no shortfall happening in the country’s rice supply anytime soon, while palay and rice prices continue their downtrend.

As of the third week of July, the average buying price of palay decreased by 0.06 percent and 17.55 percent from month-ago and year-ago levels, respectively, to P17.80 a kilo.

Similarly, a kilo of regular milled and well-milled rice was sold at an average of P38.35 and P42.86 during the period, respectively—down 7 percent and 4.9 percent from the same period last year.