By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas
The country’s rice inventory as of October 1 declined by 26.2 percent year-on-year to 1.954 million metric tons (MMT) as stocks across three sectors contracted during the reference period, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.
In its latest monthly report, PSA said rice stocks inventory at the start of October was almost 700,000 MT lower than the 2.647 MMT recorded inventory level in the same period of last year.
“On the other hand, rice stocks inventory rose by 46.7 percent from the previous month’s level of 1.332 metric tons,” PSA said in its report, titled “Rice and Corn Stocks inventory.”
The PSA noted that rice stocks inventory in all sectors—household, commercial and National Food Authority (NFA)—contracted year-on-year during the reference period.
“Rice stocks inventory in all sectors were lower than their respective levels in the same period of the previous year. As a result, stocks in the households declined by 2.6 percent, commercial warehouses/wholesalers/retailers by 23.9 percent and NFA by30.7 percent,” PSA said.
The PSA said more than half or about 1.059 MMT of the total rice inventory were stored in households, while 37.3 percent or about 728,690 MT were held by the commercial sector. Rice stocks in NFA warehouses, which reached 166,340 MT, accounted for 8.5 percent of the October 1 inventory.
“Compared with their previous month’s records, increments in stocks inventory were noted in all sectors. Stocks in the households, commercial warehouses/retailers, and NFA depositories were higher by 66.1 percent, 34.2 percent, and 10 percent, respectively,” PSA added.
In the same report, PSA said the country’s corn inventory as of October 1 declined by 47.9 percent year-on-year to a seven-month low of 513,930 MT. It was 471,610 MT lower than the 985,540 MT recorded in the October 1 corn inventory last year, based on PSA data.
“Likewise, corn stocks inventory fell by 8.3 percent from the previous month’s level of 560,610 metric tons,” PSA said.
PSA data showed that corn stocks in households reached 213,160 MT while the remaining volume of 300,770 MT were held by the commercial sector.
“Inventories of corn stocks in the households and commercial warehouses/wholesalers/retailers declined by 49.3 percent and 46.8 percent, respectively, relative to their levels in the previous years,” the PSA said.
“In comparison with their previous month’s levels, corn stocks in the households increased by 13.8 percent, while stocks in commercial warehouses/wholesalers/retailers decreased by 19.4 percent,” it added.