Rice, corn stocks up in February
Credit to Author: EIREENE JAIREE GOMEZ| Date: Thu, 14 Mar 2019 16:29:00 +0000
The rice and corn inventory of the country increased in February compared to levels a year ago, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.
In a monthly inventory report, the PSA said the country’s rice stocks went up by 19.24 percent to 2.141 million metric tons (MMT) from last year’s 1.795 MMT. However, it fell 16.05 percent from 2.550 MMT in the previous month.
On a monthly basis, stocks from commercial warehouses and National Food Authority (NFA) depositories rose by 25.46 percent and 384.72 percent, respectively. But household rice stocks dropped by 5.09 percent.
Year-on-year (yoy), stocks in NFA depositories increased by 203.72 percent. But the existing stocks in the households and commercial warehouses fell by 17.25 percent and 32.69 percent, respectively.
Of the total rice inventories, 48.22 percent were from households, 37.88 percent from the commercial warehouses and 13.90 percent from NFA depositories.
The country’s rice stocks are seen to increase in the coming months as the Philippines opens its market to cheap imported rice under a new rice regime. The United States
Department of Agriculture (USDA) earlier projected that imports may reach a record-high 2.6 million MT this year, which may also further increase as the Rice Import Liberalization Act takes effect.
Meanwhile, the PSA said total corn inventory climbed by 90.46 percent to 781,520 MT in February from 410,330 MT a year ago. It was also up by 15.59 percent from 676,130 MT in the previous month.
Stocks from households and commercial warehouses rose yoy by 96.85 percent and 89.27 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, there were no corn stocks in NFA depositories during the period. On a monthly basis, stocks in the households and commercial warehouses likewise increased by 26.20 percent and 13.40 percent, respectively.
Some 81.33 percent of the total corn inventory was held by households while the remaining 18.67 percent consisted of inventory held by ommercial warehouses.
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