The country’s rice and corn inventory declined as of February as all sectors, particularly the National Food Authority (NFA), reduced their stockpile, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed.
The statistics agency pegged total rice stocks at 1.52 million metric tons (MT) as of Feb. 1, down 5.4 percent from 1.61 million MT in the same period a year ago.
From Jan. 1, inventory dropped by a hefty 17.7 percent from 1.85 million MT.
Asked whether the reduced inventory would lead to higher rice prices in the market, Federation of Free Farmers national manager Raul Montemayor said this would depend on the volume of rice imports and future output.
He also pointed out that the Feb. 1 stock level is usually low as the harvest season is yet to kick off.
The steepest decline was seen in rice stored in NFA warehouses at 42.2 percent to end at 104,790 MT.
Meanwhile, stocks in the household and commercial sectors dipped by 0.6 percent to 877,030 MT and by 0.7 percent to 541,210 MT, respectively.
“The total rice stocks inventory for the month comprised of 57.6 percent from the household, 35.5 percent from the commercial sector, and 6.9 percent from the NFA depositories,” it said.
The NFA is tasked to maintain an optimal level of rice inventory at any given time for dealing with emergency situations and sustaining the government’s disaster relief efforts, as stipulated under the Rice Tariffication Law. Produce shall be sourced solely from local farmers.
The country’s rice inventory should be 37,000 MT a day or a total of 3.33 million MT good for three months.
A separate PSA data stated that domestic palay production hit 4.8 million MT in the first quarter of 2023, an increase of 5.2 percent from 4.5 million MT in the same quarter last year.
The country purchased 1.3 million MT of imported rice as of May 4, down by 12.7 percent from 1.5 million MT about a year ago, based on the figures from the Bureau of Plant Industry.
Vietnam remained the leading source of rice, accounting for 1.2 million MT or almost 90 percent.
Meanwhile, total corn stocks stood at 366,400 MT, a decline of 22.5 percent from 472,570 MT.
This was also a decrease of 10.5 percent from 409,490 MT a month ago.
“Compared with the corn stocks in the same period of previous year, decreases were registered in all sectors,” the PSA said.
Corn stored in households went down by 20.2 percent to 75,120 MT while commercial stocks tumbled by 23 percent to 291,280 MT.
Commercial sector accounted for 79.5 percent of this month’s corn inventory while households comprised the remaining 20.5 percent.