The country’s rice stockpile as of December 1 reached 2.718 million metric tons, 4.59 percent lower than the 2.849 MMT recorded in 2017, according to a report by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
On a monthly basis, the PSA said the country’s rice inventory was 9.49 percent lower than the November volume of 3.003 MMT. Based on the BusinessMirror’s computation, the December 1 rice inventory is good for 87 days.
Of the total volume recorded at the start of December, 56.18 percent were held by households, while 40.07 percent were in commercial warehouses. The remaining volume was in the warehouses of the National Food Authority (NFA).
The rice stockpile in households was estimated at 1.527 MMT, while the inventory in commercial warehouses and NFA depositories were pegged at 1.089 MMT and 102,140 metric ton (MT), respectively.
“Over the previous month, stocks inventory in all sectors displayed a decline of 1.93 percent in the households, 18.65 percent in commercial warehouses and 4.87 percent in NFA depositories,” the PSA said in the report published on Monday.
“Year-on-year, rice stocks in the households and in NFA depositories dropped by 6.68 percent and 34.79 percent, respectively. Nonetheless, an increment of 3.12 percent was observed in the commercial warehouses,” it added.
The government monitors rice stocks regularly to determine if there is a need to implement interventions, such as importation, to beef up the country’s stockpile.
Data from the PSA showed that unmilled rice production in the January-to-September period posted a minimal decline of 0.41 percent to 11.909 MMT.
Last week the Department of Agriculture said rice output in 2018 declined by 900,000 MT valued at P20.7 billion due to the typhoons that ravaged palay-producing provinces last year.
The PSA also reported that the country’s total corn inventory as of December 1 grew by 17.4 percent to 629,910 MT, from its previous year’s record of 536,560 MMT.
However, the volume was 1.5 percent lower than the corn stockpile of 639,520 MT in November, according to the PSA report.
Of the total inventory, around 84.74 percent were in commercial warehouses while the remaining 15.26 percent were in households.
“Relative with their levels in the previous year, an increase of 8.28 percent and 19.30 percent in the households and commercial warehouses was noted. There were no corn stocks in NFA depositories for this month,” the PSA report read.
“Compared with the previous month’s inventory, a cutback of 37.67 percent in the households was recorded, while an increase of 9.99 percent in commercial warehouses was noted,” it added.