The Philippines’ rice inventory dropped by 3 percent to an estimated 1.37 million metric tons (MT) as of March 1, compared to 1.41 million metric tons inventory in the same period of the previous year.
Based on Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data released on April 5, month-on-month rice stocks went down by 9.6 percent in February 2024 from the previous month’s inventory of 1.51 million MT.
As of March 1, rice stocks in the National Food Authority (NFA) depositories and household sector registered annual decreases of 59.9 percent and 14.4 percent to 41,290 MT and 694,620 MT, respectively. However, commercial stocks increased by 27.5 percent to 630,290 MT from 778,890 MT in the same period of 2023.
Compared to February 1, rice levels, inventories from the commercial establishments and NFA depositories showed month-on-month decreases of 19.1 percent and 12 percent, respectively. On the other hand, rice stocks inventory from the households increased by 1.4 percent.
Statistics showed that 50.8 percent of total rice stocks February were from the households, 46.1 percent were from the commercial sector, and only 3 percent were from the NFA depositories.
On the other hand, March 1 figures showed that the total corn inventory of the country reached 546,890 MT, 55.4 percent higher from the 352,040 MT during the same period in 2023.
Month-on-month, corn stocks exhibited an increase of 11.2 percent compared to the previous month’s inventory of 491,770 MT. Corn inventory in the commercial sector recorded an annual increase of 92.7 percent, but stocks in the households declined by 44.4 percent.
As of March 1, corn stocks in the commercial and household sectors registered month-on-month increases of 12.1 percent and 3.7 percent, to 493,550 MT and 53,350 MT, respectively. Around 90.2 percent of the corn inventory are with the commercial sector, while the remaining 9.8 percent are at the households.