THE national rice inventory declined 10.9% year on year in early April, while corn stocks rose 21.2%, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.
In a report, the PSA said the rice inventory was 1.64 million metric tons (MT), with a sharp fall noted in the quantity of rice held by the National Food Authority (NFA).
“Of this month’s total rice stocks, 57.1% were by households, 40.3% were from the commercial sector, and 2.5% were from the NFA depositories,” it said.
Rice held by the NFA fell 57.1% year on year to 641.56 thousand MT, while household rice stocks fell 7.6% to 938 thousand MT.
Commercial warehouses held 662 thousand MT for the period, dropping 9.1% from a year earlier.
Corn stocks in early April rose to 602.14 thousand MT from 496.74 thousand MT a year earlier.
It added that 84.8% of the total consisted of corn held by the commercial sector, while the remaining 15.2% were held by households. — Adrian H. Halili