Rice inventory shoots up in October

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s rice inventory went up in October, boosted by the main harvest season.

Latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that total rice inventory stood at 2.65 million metric tons as of October, 16 percent higher than the previous year’s volume stock of 2.28 million MT.

The current inventory is 45 percent higher than  the previous month’s 1.82 million MT.

Based on the average daily consumption of Filipinos of 32,000 MT, the current inventory is sufficient for 88 days.

Households had more than half of total inventories at 54.8 percent while commercial warehouses held about 36.2 percent. Supplies from the National Food Authority (NFA) depositories cornered 9.1 percent of the total.

On a monthly basis, rice stocks across all sectors showed increments in inventories.

Households, commercial and NFA depositories increased by 71 percent, 22 percent and 25 percent, respectively.

Meanwhile, prices of Filipinos’ main staple continued to be on the downward trend year-on-year.

According to the PSA, the average wholesale price of well-milled rice was at P37.90 per kilogram as of the first week of October.

This is 0.2 percent lower than the P37.97 per kilo level from the same period a year ago and 0.5 percent lower on a weekly basis.

Its average retail price also decreased by 0.6 percent to P41.73 per kilo while week-on-week prices went down as well.

Meanwhile, the wholesale price of regular-milled rice was P33.86 per kilo, down 1.1 percent, while average retail price was at P37.04 a kilo.

Local farmers, on the other hand, continue to see a drop in farm gate prices for several weeks already.

This as the main harvest season coincides with the continued importation amid the Rice Tariffication Law.

The average farmgate price of palay declined by 4.1 percent to P15.79 per kilo.

However, it picked up 0.2 percent from the P15.76 per kilo year-on-year.