THE national rice inventory fell 0.1% year on year in early August, while corn stocks rose 14.5%, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.
In a report, the PSA said the rice inventory was 1.80 million metric tons (MT), featuring declines in rice held by the National Food Authority (NFA) and households.
“Of this month’s total rice stocks, 57.9% were held by the commercial sector, 39.0% by households, and 3.1% by NFA depositories,” the PSA said.
Rice held by commercial warehouses increased 33.6% from a year earlier to 945.1 thousand MT.
NFA rice fell sharply by 62.2% year on year to 50.95 thousand MT, while household rice fell 19.6% to 636.41 thousand MT.
On a month-on-month basis, rice inventory fell 9.5%.
“Month-on-month decreases were noted in rice stocks in NFA depositories (16.3%), in households (16.1%), and in the commercial sector (4%),” it said.
The PSA reported that the corn inventory rose to 806.68 thousand MT in early August from 706.46 thousand MT a year earlier.
“About 92.4% of the corn inventory was held by the commercial sector, while the remaining 7.6% were with households,” it added.
Commercial corn volumes rose 20.4% year on year to 745.28 thousand MT. Corn held by households, on the other hand, dropped 28.1% to 61.4 thousand MT.
On a month-on-month comparison, the national corn inventory declined 2.1%.
“The volume of corn stocks in the commercial sector registered a month-on-month decrement of 2.6%… a monthly increase of 4.8% was noted in the household sector,” the PSA said. — Adrian H. Halili
