Rice inventory drops to 17-month low in Philippines

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The country's rice stocks in February fell to their lowest level in more than a year despite higher imports recorded at the start of the year.

In its latest report, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said total rice inventory as of Feb. 1 stood at 1.51 million metric tons, slightly lower than the 1.52 million MT recorded in the same period last year.

The rice inventory last month was the lowest in 17 months or since the 1.45 million MT recorded in September 2022, PSA data showed.

'Month-on-month, the volume of rice stocks inventory recorded a decrement of 25.5 percent from the previous month's inventory of 2.03 million metric tons,' the PSA also said.

The PSA said more than half of the recorded rice stocks were from the commercial sector while 45.3 percent were from the households. The National Food Authority (NFA) accounted for only 3.1 percent of the country's total rice inventory as of Feb. 1.

Commercial rice stocks expanded by nearly 44 percent year-on-year to 778,890 MT from 541,210 MT while household stocks declined by 21.9 percent to 685,200 MT from 877,030 MT last year.

Meanwhile, NFA stocks, which are used for calamity purposes, plunged by more than half on an annual basis to 46,890 MT from last year's 104,790 MT.

'In comparison to the January 2024 rice stocks levels, month-on-month decreases were noted from the households by 31.5 percent, from the commercial establishments by 20.4 percent and from NFA depositories by 3.7 percent,' the PSA said.

Rice imports in January rose by 70 percent year-on-year to 427,985.8 MT from 252,474.664 MT, based on Bureau of Plant Industry data.

In the same report, the PSA said nationwide corn stocks as of Feb. 1 expanded by 34.2 percent on an annual basis to 491,770 MT from 366,400 MT.

'Corn stocks inventory exhibited a decrement of 17.7 percent relative to its previous month's inventory level of 597.62 thousand metric tons,' the PSA added.

The PSA added that the bulk or about 90 percent of the country's corn inventory during the reference period were from the commercial sector while the remaining volume were from households.

Commercial corn inventory stood at 440,350 MT, 51.2 percent over the 291,280 MT recorded in February last year.

Meanwhile, household corn stocks declined by 31.5 percent year-on-year to 51,420 MT from 75,120 MT.