Rice inventory up 31% in March

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s rice inventory rose 31 percent in March, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.

Latest data from the PSA showed that total rice inventory stood at 2.22 million metric tons (MT) as of the end of the first quarter, up from last year’s 1.69 million MT.

This also represents an increase of four percent from the 2.14 million MT recorded in February.

The PSA did not specify the number of days that the stock inventory of Filipinos’ main staple would be sufficient.

Based on the average daily consumption of Filipinos of 32,000 MT, the current inventory is sufficient for 69 days.

The National Food Authority, meanwhile, has already improved its inventory following the additional incentive in its buying price, allowing it to buy more palay last harvest season.

Households had almost half of total inventories at 47 percent while commercial warehouses held about 31 percent. Supplies from NFA depositories cornered 22 percent of the total.

On a monthly basis, stocks in the households and in NFA depositories increased by 0.12 percent and 65 percent, respectively but stocks in commercial warehouses fell 14 percent.

In terms of prices of Filipinos’ main staple, it continued to be on a downward trend following the ongoing arrival of imports and the recently concluded harvest season.

The average wholesale price of well-milled rice on a weekly basis dropped one percent to P40.61 per kilogram during the last week of March. Its weekly average retail price also decreased by one percent to P44.22 per kilo.

Meanwhile, the wholesale price of regular-milled rice was P36.87 per kilo, nearly one percent below year on year. Its average retail price also decreased by one percent to P40.02 per kilo as the average farm gate price of palay continued to drop to P18.87 per kilo.

On the other hand, corn stock inventory stood at 397,120 MT, 43 percent above its 2018 level of 278,340 MT.

Of the total, 72 percent was in commercial warehouses and the remaining 28 percent in households. NFA had no stocks during the period.

Month-on-month, stock level in household decreased 23 percent and stocks in commercial warehouses fell 55 percent.