THE national rice inventory at the start of March fell 19.6% month on month, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.
Rice stocks hit 1.16 million metric tons (MMT) as of Feb. 1, from 2.01 MMT a month earlier.
The national rice inventory rose 18.0%, from 1.37 MMT a year earlier, the PSA said.
As of March 1, 48.7% of the rice inventory was held by households, 32.7% by the commercial sector, and 18.6% by the National Food Authority (NFA).
Rice held by the NFA rose 3.7% month on month. Over the same period, commercial holdings fell 42.8% and those of households declined 1.3%.
Year on year, NFA stocks rose 626.37%, while rice held households rose 12.9%. Commercial entities held 16.3% less rice.
The NFA in January was expected to buy at least 300,000 MT of palay in 2025. In February, Administrator Larry Lacson said it may procure as much as 870,000 MT “if there’s still a budget.”
The NFA has been seeking funds to increase its reserves to comply with the amended Rice Tariffication Law, which raised the stocking requirement to 15 days from nine days.
To lower rice prices, the Department of Agriculture in January declared an emergency that triggered the release of rice reserves from NFA warehouses. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza