THE country’s rice inventory as of June 1 rose by 10.1 percent to nearly 2.6 million metric tons, from 2.36 MMT recorded last year, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
PSA figures showed that the total volume of rice in households and commercial warehouses reached 1.049 MMT and 998,230 metric tons, respectively. The National Food Authority’s (NFA) buffer stock was estimated at 551,060 MT.
On a monthly basis, however, the total stockpile in June was 11.8 percent lower than the 2.947 MMT recorded in May, the PSA said in its monthly report published on Thursday.
“Compared with their levels a month ago, decrements were noted in all sectors. Stocks in households, commercial warehouses and NFA depositories were lower by 17.1 percent, 11.2 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively,” the report read.
The PSA said rice stocks in households and commercial warehouses fell by 4.2 percent and 21 percent, respectively. In contrast, stocks in NFA depositories jumped by 26,444.2 percent.
“Of this month’s total rice stocks inventory, 40.4 percent came from the households and 38.4 percent were from commercial warehouses. The NFA depositories contributed 21.2 percent of the total rice stocks inventory, comprising 66.5 percent of imported rice for the reference period,” the report read.
The PSA continues to monitor total rice inventory to ensure that the country has ample supply of the staple.
In the same report, the PSA said the country’s total corn stock inventory expanded by 45.2 percent to 859,770 MT, from 592,010 MT recorded in June last year. The latest figure was also 3.7 percent higher than the 829,110 MT recorded last May.
“Around 9.3 percent of the current stocks inventory level was contributed by the households and 90.7 percent were from commercial warehouses,” it added.
Corn stocks held by commercial warehouses reached 779,740 MT while those in households were estimated at 80,020 MT.
“Relative to their levels from the previous year, increments were noted in the households and commercial warehouses by 71.7 percent and 43.0 percent, respectively. On the other hand, there were no corn stocks in NFA depositories during the month,” the report read.
“Stocks in the households decreased by 20.8 percent with reference to the previous month’s inventory level. In contrast, stocks in commercial warehouses increased by 7.1 percent. Still, there were no corn stocks in NFA depositories for the month,” it added.
Image credits: Nonie Reyes