The Philippines’s rice inventory at the start of September plunged by nearly 27 percent year-on-year to a three-year low of 1.332 million metric tons (MMT), according to latest government report.
This is now the fifth consecutive month that the country’s rice inventory declined, based on historical Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data.
PSA said the nationwide rice inventory on September 1 was 491,000 metric tons (MT) lower than the 1.823 MMT stocks recorded in the same period of last year.
“Comparably, rice stocks inventory reduced by 15.6 percent from previous month’s inventory level of [1.578 MMT],” the PSA said in its monthly rice and corn stocks inventory report published on Tuesday.
The PSA said almost half or about 47.9 percent of the country’s rice inventory levels were from households, while 40.8 percent were stored by commercial warehouses/wholesalers/retailers. The remaining 11.3 percent were from National Food Authority (NFA) depositories.
PSA data showed rice stocks in households reached 638,160 MT, while those stored in the commercial sector and NFA reached 543,020 MT and 151,170 MT, respectively.
The PSA said the rice inventory in all sectors declined both on an annual and monthly basis.
“Compared with previous year’s record, rice stocks in households, commercial warehouses/wholesalers/retailers, and NFA depositories waned by 24.8 percent, 30.6 percent, 21.5 percent, respectively,” it said.
“The month’s rice stocks inventory in all sectors was lower than their respective levels in the previous month. Decreases were recorded at 15 percent in households, 16.3 percent in commercial warehouses/wholesalers/retailers and 15.5 percent in NFA depositories,” it added.
In the same report, PSA data showed that the country’s corn inventory declined by 29.7 percent to 560,610 MT from last year’s 797,370 MT. Historical PSA data showed that this is the lowest nationwide corn inventory in two and a half years.
“In this war, corn stocks inventory declined by 20.8 percent compared with the previous month’s level of 707,650 metric tons,” the PSA said.
The PSA said about 66.6 percent or 373,250 MT of corn were held by the commercial sector while the remaining volumes of 33.4 percent or 187,360 MT were in households.
“Year-on-year, both corn stocks inventory level in the households and commercial warehouses/wholesalers/retailers declined by 38.6 percent and 24.2 percent, respectively,” it said.
“Corn stocks inventory level in the households recorded an increase of 73.3 percent as compared with the previous month’s level. However, corn stocks in commercial warehouses/wholesalers/retailers declined by 37.7 percent,” it added.
Image courtesy of Nonie Reyes