The country’s total rice inventory as of February 1 touched a 5-month low after it declined by 6 percent to 2.193 million metric tons (MMT), from the previous year’s 2.332 MMT, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.
In its monthly rice and corn stocks inventory report, the PSA said the February 1 volume was also 7.7 percent lower than the previous month’s 2.375 MMT.
Historical PSA data showed that this is the lowest nationwide rice inventory since September 2020, when it reached 1.823 MMT.
The PSA data showed that bulk of rice inventory during the period or about 1.181 MMT were held by households while 708,940 metric tons (MT) were stored in commercial warehouses. PSA data also showed that rice inventory held by NFA warehouses was estimated at 302,480 MT.
PSA data showed that rice inventory in households and NFA warehouses declined by 8.38 percent and 14.19 percent, respectively. Rice inventory in commercial warehouses grew by 2.75 percent from its January level of 689.960 MT.
On an annual basis, household rice inventory rose by 13 percent from 1.045 MMT while commercial rice stocks declined by 15.71 percent from 841,150 MT, based on the latest PSA data.
PSA data also indicated that NFA rice inventory declined by 38 percent from 488,680 MT recorded in February 2020.
In the same report, the PSA said the country’s nationwide corn inventory rose by 18.38 percent to 774,830 MT, from 654,530 MT recorded last year.
However, the volume was 15.23 percent lower than last month’s 914,070 MT.
PSA data indicated that bulk of the corn inventory as of February 1, or about 550,540 MT, were stored in commercial warehouses while the remaining 224,290 were in households.
“This month’s corn stocks in all sectors were higher compared with their respective levels in the previous year. Stocks in the households and commercial warehouses increased by 46.5 percent and 9.8 percent respectively,” the PSA said.
“Compared with the previous month’s record, the existing stocks in the households and commercial warehouses had respective declines of 22.4 percent and 11.9 percent.”
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