The country’s rice inventory as of April 1 rose to a four-month high of 2.444 million metric tons (MMT), based on the latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
In its monthly report, the PSA said the April 1 rice inventory was 3.2 percent or 77,000 MT higher than the 2.367 MMT recorded a year ago.
“Month-on-month, rice stocks inventory also increased by 17.5 percent from its previous month’s level of 2.080 [million] metric tons [MT],” the PSA said in its report released recently.
Historical PSA data showed that this is the largest rice inventory in four months since December, when it reached 2.766 MMT.
The PSA said more than half or 59.9 percent of the total rice inventory as of April 1 was stored in households while commercial warehouses/wholesalers/retailers accounted for 30.2 percent. The remaining 9.9 percent were stored in National Food Authority (NFA) warehouses.
Rice stocks in households grew by 17.9 percent to 1.464 MMT from last year’s 1.243 MMT while rice inventory in commercial warehouses/wholesalers/retailers expanded by 4 percent to 738,160 MT from 709,550 MT.
However, PSA data showed that rice stored in NFA warehouses declined by nearly 42 percent to 241,170 MT from last year’s 415,310 MT.
“Rice stocks in the households and in the commercial warehouses/ wholesalers/retailers went up by 19.1 percent and 26.3 percent, respectively from their levels in the previous month. Meanwhile, rice stocks in NFA depositories dropped by -9.1 percent,” the PSA said.
In the same report, the PSA said the country’s nationwide corn stock inventory as of April 1 declined by 3 percent to 713,680 MT from last year’s 736,070 MT.
“Compared with its level a month ago of 461,210 MT, corn stocks climbed by 54.7 percent.”
The PSA said about 36.2 percent of the corn inventory were from households while the bulk or about 63.8 percent were held by commercial warehouses/wholesalers/retailers. Corn inventory in households reached 258,170 MT while those in commercial entities were estimated at 455,510 MT.
“Relative to the previous year’s level, corn stocks in the households went up by 51.2 percent. However, stocks in the commercial warehouses/ wholesalers/retailers dropped by -19.4 percent,” it said.
“Month-on-month, stocks in households and in commercial warehouses/wholesalers/retailers grew by 28.3 percent and 75.2 percent, respectively.”
The Philippines’s paddy rice output in the first quarter expanded by 8.57 percent year-on-year to a record 4.626 MMT. The figure surpassed the first quarter palay harvest record of 4.622 MMT in 2018 despite a 3.52-percent contraction in area harvested.
For this year, the Department of Agriculture (DA) is targeting to increase unmilled rice output by 1 MMT to 20.4 MMT. The DA said this would allow the Philippines to achieve a 95-percent rice self-sufficiency level.