RICE held in inventory totaled 2.675 million metric tons (MT) at the start of the year, up 4.9%, driven by increased holdings by the National Food Authority (NFA), the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said Monday.
The PSA’s Rice and Corn Stocks Inventory report indicated that alongside the rise in NFA inventories, stocks held by commercial warehouses and households declined.
Commercial warehouse inventories fell 21% to 951,630 MT at the start of the year, while rice held by households fell 3.9% to 1.198 million MT.
NFA stocks rose 436.1% to 524,940 MT, amid increased funding for the agency, which was given a mandate to step up purchasing from domestic farmers after its importing function was stripped from it.
Household stocks accounted for 44.8% of all inventories, while commercial stocks comprised 35.6% and NFA warehouses 19.6%.
Compared to the start of December, household and commercial inventories declined 25.5% and 5.8%, respectively. NFA stocks increased 9.2% month-on-month.
The corn inventory as of Jan. 1 was 812,010 MT, up 20.1% from a year earlier.
Holdings of corn by commercial warehouses rose 7.4% to 602,080 MT. Household stocks rose 81.6% to 209,930 MT. The NFA had no inventories of corn during the period.
Month-on-month, household stocks of corn rose 15.2%, while those of commercial warehouses fell 1.7%. — Marissa Mae M. Ramos
