July rice inventory falls by a fifth year on year

THE NATIONAL rice inventory fell 19.8% year on year to 2.10 million metric tons (MT) in July, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

In its latest Rice and Corn stocks inventory report, the PSA said current stocks compare with the year-earlier level of 2.63 million MT.

In July, rice stocks held by households rose 6.4% year on year to 1.07 million MT while inventory in commercial warehouses fell 26.5% to 808.55 thousand MT.

National Food Authority (NFA) inventories also fell 56.9% year on year to 222.57 thousand MT.

On a month-on-month comparison, rice inventory in July fell 12.2% against June.

Rice held by households fell 14.5% compared with June, stocks in commercial warehouses fell 9.3%, and NFA holdings fell 10.4%.

“About 51% of the current rice inventory was held by households, 38.4% by commercial warehouses, and the remaining 10.6% NFA depositories,” the PSA said.

Meanwhile, the corn inventory in July fell 9.9% year on year to 741.66 thousand MT.

Corn stocks held by households rose 25.7% year on year to 76.92 thousand MT while commercial warehouse holdings fell 12.7% to 664.73 thousand MT.

NFA held no corn during the month.

Month-on-month, household corn stocks fell 19.9% while commercial warehouse inventories fell 17.9%.

“Of the current corn stocks, 89.6% were in commercial warehouses and 10.4% were in households,” the PSA said. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave