Inventory stock of both rice and corn in February this year posted declines, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
The PSA said total rice inventory stood at only 1.52 million metric tons (MT), down 17.7 percent from January inventory of 1.85 million MT.
The rice stock for the period is also lower by 5.4 percent compared to the 1.6 million MT from a year earlier.
The bulk of National Food Authority (NFA) rice deposit inventory in February was accounted for by households at 57.6 percent followed by commercial warehouses at 35.5 percent and by wholesalers and retailers of the remaining 6.9 percent.
According to the Bureau of Plant Industry, 1.32 million MT of imported rice were unloaded at the ports as of May 4 this year.
Based on the Department of Agriculture monitoring of public markets in the National Capital Region, imported special variety rice is sold at P50 to P58 per kilogram (kg); premium rice at P43 to P52 per kg; well-milled rice at P40 to P46 per kg; and regular milled rice at P37 to P44 per kg.
Domestic special variety rice sells from P48 to P60 per kg; premium rice at P42 to P49 per kg; well-milled rice at P39 to P46 per kg; and regular milled rice at P34 to P42 per kg.
The country’s corn stock inventory total 366,400 MT as of February 1, 2023, a 10.5 percent decline from January 2023’s 409,490 MT.
Year-on-year, this was lower by 22.5 percent from February 2022’s inventory level of 472,570 MT.
According to the PSA, 79.5 percent of the corn stock in February were in commercial warehouses, wholesalers and retailers and the remaining 20.5 percent in households.
