RICE stock inventory reached 1.72 million metric tons (MMT) last month, about 15 percent lower than the previous month’s 2.03 MMT and 7.4 percent below the 1.86 MMT recorded in August of last year, according to the latest monthly inventory of the country’s main grain staples of the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS).
An attached agency of the Philippines Statistics Authority, the BAS said “rice stock levels in all sectors decreased compared with the [July] record,” adding that stock levels in households and in commercial warehouses decreased by 20.4 percent and 15.9 percent, respectively.
The BAS noted that rice stocks in National Food Authority (NFA) depositories, “with 95.7-percent imported rice, decreased by 3.1 percent.”
“Year-on-year, rice stocks held by households grew by 10 percent,” the BAS said, noting that stocks in commercial warehouses and in NFA depositories decreased by 0.9 percent and 30.8 percent, respectively.
Total rice stock inventory for August is composed of 40.7 percent held by households, about 33.6 percent in commercial warehouses, while NFA depositories hold the remaining 25.7 percent.
As of August the total rice inventory would be sufficient for 51 days, the BAS said, further explaining that stocks “in the households would be enough for 21 days, in commercial warehouses for 17 days and NFA depositories for 13 days.”
In an interview last month, NFA Spokesman Rex Estoperez said rice stock for Metro Manila is enough for 60 days; but nationwide, “it is only for 14 days.”
To recall, the NFA special bids and awards committee last month rejected all bids for the importation of 500,000 metric tons (MT) rice buffer stock as all offers were way below the approved budget for contract (ABC) of $456.60 per MT.
This prompted the NFA to access the needed rice through the government-to-government procedure amid the urgency in securing the importation of 500,000 MT of rice to improve the country’s buffer.
“It’s government-to-government importation based on executive agreements with Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia,” Presidential Assistant for Food Security and Agriculture Modernization Secretary Francisco Pangilinan said on Tuesday, adding that his office has rescheduled the submission of offers to Monday next week.
Meanwhile, total corn inventory as of August 1 was 256,300 metric tons, about 58.4 percent higher than the previous month’s level of 161,800 MT and 80.7 percent above last year’s record of 141,800 MT, according to the BAS.
Month-on-month, corn stock levels in households and in commercial warehouses grew by 36.7 percent and 73.9 percent, respectively, the BAS said, noting that stocks in NFA depositories dropped by 10.9 percent.
“Year-on-year, stock levels in the households and in commercial warehouses increased by 42.6 percent and 109.4 percent, accordingly, [while] stocks in NFA depositories decreased by 3.8 percent,” the BAS said.
Image credits: Roy Domingo