Palay output expected to have edged up in Q1

THE country’s palay (unmilled rice) production from January to March was estimated to be higher by 0.8 percent from the actual output last year, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.

In its latest report, the PSA said that local palay production could have hit 4.82 million metric tons (MT), higher than the actual harvest of 4.78 million MT in the same period of 2023.

The updated palay production estimate for the period was also higher by 0.3 percent from the previous estimate of 4.80 million MT as of January 2024.

Based on the standing crop for the first quarter, the estimated harvest area is seen to decrease to 1.17 million hectares or by 0.1 percent from 1.18 million hectares of actual harvested area last year.

The palay yield per hectare is seen to increase by 1.0 percent to 4.10 MT from 2023’s 4.06 MT. Also, more than 50 percent of the area planted to the crop has been harvested.

“As of 1 March 2024, about 677,340 hectares or 57.7 percent of 1.17 million hectares [of the] updated harvest area of standing crop have been harvested,” the PSA said.

This is equivalent to palay output of about 2.74 million MT.

The remaining area of about 497,520 hectares of standing crop yet to be harvested is made up of 8.8 percent crops at the reproductive stage and 91.2 percent at the maturing stage.

In 2023, the Philippines produced a record-high 20 million MT of palay, 1.5 percent higher than 19.76 million MT logged in 2022.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) said the Philippines is seen producing around 12.125 million MT of rice this year due to increased funding from the government. The USDA placed local rice production at 12.6 million MT.

Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. earlier said that higher local palay production this year may reduce the country’s need for imported rice, forecasting that imports of the staple are unlikely to exceed 4.0 million MT.

As of April 11, inbound shipments of the rice reached 1.23 million MT, according to the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI).

From January to the whole of April last year, the rice import volume reached 1.3 million MT.

Since the year started, the BPI has released a total of 3,094 sanitary and phytosanitary import clearances to accredited importers.

Last year, inbound shipments of the staple totaled 3.6 million MT, down 5.9 percent from the record-high 3.82 million MT logged in 2022.