Rice stocks down by 17.9% in Oct

or footbridge rising high above the electricity supply wires of the MRT3 trains, giving pedestrians a commanding view of the EDSA corridor.

All over the Philippines, el- A National Food Authority official inspects a stall selling rice at Trabaho Market in Sampaloc, Manila on Friday morning to see if it is following the SRP for both local and imported rice. THE Philippines’ total rice stocs decreased by 17.87 percent to 1.59 million metric tons (MMT) as of October 1 from 1.94 MMT a year ago, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.

The data came after the National Sampaloc, Manila on Friday.

In its monthly “Rice and Corn

- cent increase from 1.795 MMT in September, as rice imports continue percent to 602,300 MT (37.88 percent) in commercial warehouses; and 19.40 percent to 128,430 MT (8.08 percent) in NFA depositories

- houses and NFA depositories rose by 40.80 percent, 34.82 percent, and 15.60 percent, respectively

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel

Piñol had said the country is expected to lose about 800,000 MT of (unmilled rice) this year because of the typhoons that hit the country and slashed farmlands.

Warning for first-time offenders

On Friday, Piñol said those violating

Penalties for violators include canceling their NFA licenses, a jail

up to P1 million, he added.

“This is a measure that we are doing because we want to protect everybody. We don’t want to appear to be cruel or very harsh. But this is the process:

and the second [is the] cancelation [of on October 27, but penalties and sanctions could only be enforced 15 days after the publication of the guidelines for them as approved by the NFA Council.

For imported rice, the SRP is P39