The country’s rice inventory as of April 1 rose to a 10-month high as commercial entities, such as warehouses and retailers, had more stocks.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said nationwide rice inventory as of April 1 went up by 2.5 percent to 2.5 million metric tons (MMT) from the 2.444 MMT recorded a year ago.
“Furthermore, the rice stocks inventory level increased by 53.5 percent as compared with the previous month’s level of 1.632 million metric tons,” the PSA said in its monthly rice and corn stocks inventory report published recently.
Historical PSA data showed that the rice inventory recorded on April 1 was the highest in 10 months or since June 2021, when it reached 2.53 MMT.
The PSA said more than half of April’s rice inventory or about 54.8 percent were from households while 39.8 percent were from commercial warehouses/wholesalers/retailers. The PSA added that the remaining volume of 5.4 percent was held by warehouses of the National Food Authority (NFA).
Rice inventory in households as of April 1 reached 1.372 MMT while those in commercial entities and NFA warehouses reached 997,420 MT and 135,870 MT, respectively.
“Relative to the April 2021 inventory level, rice stocks in the commercial warehouses/wholesalers/retailers grew by 35.1 percent. However, inventory levels in both the households and NFA depositories dropped by -6.3 percent and -43.7 percent, respectively,” the report read.
“This month’s rice stocks inventory showed increments of 58.7 percent in the households and 63.2 percent in commercial warehouses/wholesalers/retailers from their previous month’s record. On the contrary, stocks in NFA depositories fell by -13.1 percent.”
The BusinessMirror earlier reported that the country’s total rice imports in January to April leaped by 47.77 percent year-on-year to 1.189 MMT.
The latest Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) data showed that total rice imports during the four-month period were 384,594.907 MT higher than the 804,996.53 MT recorded a year ago.
The PSA also reported that the country’s corn stocks as of April 1 reached 777,370 MT, 8.9 percent higher than the 713,680 MT recorded a year ago.
“Comparably, corn stocks inventory grew by 73.4 percent from the previous month’s inventory level of [448,310 metric tons].”
The PSA said corn stocks in commercial entities, which accounted for 76.9 percent of total inventory, reached 597,490 MT while the remaining volume of 179,890 MT were held by households.
“In comparison with the April 2021 corn stocks inventory level, the commercial warehouses/wholesalers/retailers inventory level rose by 31.2 percent, while stocks in the households decreased by -30.3 percent,” the report read.
“Inventories in the stocks of households and commercial warehouses/wholesalers/retailers climbed by 52.2 percent and 81.0 percent, relative to their respective levels in the previous month.”