Rice inventory declines as corn stocks triple
RICE inventories at the start of July declined over 14% year on year while corn stocks tripled, the Philippine Statistics Authority said.
In a Thursday report, the agency said rice stocks nationwide as of July 1 stood at 2.35 million metric tons (MT), down 14.08% from a year earlier and down 8.75% from a month earlier.
Compared with the previous year, rice stocks in the National Food Authority ( NFA) depositories dropped by 83.04% while stocks in households and in commercial warehouses expanded 1.4% and 42.83%.
Month on month, stocks held by households, in commercial warehouses and in NFA depositories declined by 7.84%, 7% and 24.49%, respectively.
The total rice inventory for this month is deemed sufficient for 69 days.
Stocks held by households, accounting for 42.37% of the total, are sufficient for 29 days; those in commercial warehouses, about 51.03%, good for 35 days, and those in NFA depositories, at 6.6%, the equivalent of five days’ consumption.
Of the volume stored at NFA warehouses, 69.6% is imported.
The state- run grains agency is required by law to maintain at least a 15-day buffer stock at any given time, and a 30-day buffer stock during lean months.
Corn inventory was 683,620 MT as of July 1, up 216.61% from a year earlier. It was down 30.16% from a month earlier.
Corn stocks held by households rose 36.35% year on year, those in commercial warehouses up 264.97% and those in NFA warehouses up 1,487.97%.
On a month-on-month basis, corn stocks held by households, commercial warehouses and NFA depositories dropped by 29.40%, 30.37%, and 12.96%, respectively.
Around 89.71% of the total corn inventory as of July 1 was with commercial warehouses; 9.48%, with households; and 0.81% with the NFA depositories. —