Rice, corn inventory expanded in February—PSA report

ThE country’s rice inventory in February went up by 19.24 percent to 2.141 million metric tons, from 1.795 MMT recorded in the same period last year, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

however, the volume was 16.04 percent lower than the 2.555 MMT recorded rice stockpile in January, the PSA said in its monthly inventory report.

The PSA said 48.22 percent, or about 1.032 MMT, of the total rice inventory during the period were in households, while 37.88 percent or 811,200 MT were held by commercial warehouses.

It added that 297,620 MT, or 13.9 percent of the total stockpile, were in NFA warehouses.

“Year-on-year, the current stocks in the households dropped by 5.09 percent, while stocks in NFA depositories and commercial warehouses grew by 384.72 percent and 25.46 percent, respectively,” the PSA said in the report, which was published on Wednesday.

“Compared with the previous month’s record, the existing stocks in the households and commercial warehouses correspondingly declined by 17.25 percent and 32.69 percent. however, stocks in NFA depositories increased by 203.72 percent,” the PSA added.

In the same report, the PSA said the country’s corn inventory in February nearly doubled to 781,520 MT, from 410,330 MT recorded a year ago.

on a monthly basis, the February figure was 15.59 percent higher than the 676,130 MT recorded in January, according to the PSA.

The PSA said the bulk of the corn inventory, or 635,620 MT, were in commercial warehouses while the remaining volume 145,900 MT was in households.

“Compared with its previous year level, corn stocks in the households and in commercial warehouses were up by 96.85 percent and 89.27 percent, respectively,” it said.

“The total corn stock for this month in the households and commercial warehouses grew by 26.20 percent and 13.40 percent, respectively [from their previous month’s levels],” it added. Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas