THE national rice inventory rose to 2.16 million metric tons (MMT) in January, up 6.4% year on year, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Monday.
Month on month, the rice inventory declined 15.7% from 2.56 MMT in December, the PSA said in a statement.
Year on year, rice held by National Food Authority (NFA) depositories rose 485.1% while grain held by households rose 5.4%.
Month on month, NFA holdings rose 97.7% while stock held by households rose 17.4%.
Rice held by commercial entities fell 16.55% year on year and 46.1% month on month, the PSA said.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) said last month that it is expecting the harvest of palay (unmilled rice) this year to exceed 20 million MT.
If realized, this would represent a 6% increase from the 19.3 MMT estimate for 2024 production and a 1.9% rise from the record 20.06 MMT posted in 2023.
The DA last month declared a food-security emergency for rice, citing an “extraordinary” spike in the prices of the grain despite lower tariffs for imports.
The PSA, meanwhile, said corn stocks fell 45.0% year on year to 328,40 MT and fell 40.1% month on month. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza