PHL rice inventory declines by 12.3% in June
THE country’s rice inventory as of June fell by 12.3 percent to 2.22 million metric tons (MMT) from last year’s 2.53 MMT, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.
“Relative to the May 2022 inventory level of 2,279.96 thousand metric tons, the current rice stocks inventory dropped by -2.6 percent,” the PSA said in its monthly rice and corn stocks report published on Wednesday.
The agency said about 47.3 percent or some 1.049 MMT of rice were stored by households while 44.8 percent or 995,230 metric tons (MT) were held by commercial entities (warehouses, wholesalers and retailers).
It added that rice stocks in the National Food Authority (NFA) warehouses as of June 1 reached 175,490 MT, accounting for 7.9 percent of total inventory during the reference period.
“Rice stocks inventory in all sectors decreased compared with their levels in the previous year. Stocks in the households dropped by -7.3 percent, in commercial warehouses/wholesalers/retailers by -15.2 percent, and in NFA depositories by -22.0 percent,” the PSA said.
“In comparison to the previous month’s rice stocks inventory levels, the households registered a drawdown of -15.4 percent. However, stocks in commercial warehouses/ wholesalers/retailers and NFA depositories grew by 13.0 percent and 10.5 percent, respectively.”
In the same report, the PSA said total corn inventory as of June 1 declined by 9.2 percent to 873,480 MT from 962,070 MT last year. However, the PSA added that the latest total corn inventory estimate was 12 percent higher than the 779,790 MT recorded in May.
“The total corn stocks inventory for the month was comprised of 8.3 percent from the households and 91.7 percent from the commercial warehouses/wholesalers/retailers,” it said.
PSA data showed that corn inventory in commercial entities reached 801,060 MT while corn stocks in households were at 72,420 MT.
“Corn stocks in the households and commercial warehouses/ wholesalers/retailers diminished by -48.0 percent and -2.7 percent, respectively, in comparison with their June 2021 corn stocks inventory levels,” it said.
“Month-on-month, corn stocks in commercial warehouses/wholesalers/ retailers grew by 19.1 percent, while stocks inventory in the households contracted by -32.5 percent.”
In May, the PSA reported that the country’s unmilled rice output in January to March fell by 1.9 percent year-on-year to 4.541 MMT while corn production dipped to 2.441 MMT from last year’s 2.445 MMT.
PSA data showed that the value of crop production in the first quarter declined by 1.65 percent to P243.651 billion from P247.736 billion last year.