Palay harvest seen at record volume

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s palay harvest in the second quarter may hit a record 4.36 million metric tons, lifting total output in the first half to over nine million MT, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.

In its latest forecast, the PSA said palay production from April to June could hit 4.36 million MT, the highest second-quarter harvest the country would register if the estimate materializes.

The projection is 13.4 percent higher than the 3.85 million MT actual harvest in the second quarter last year, according to the PSA.

With the latest second-quarter production estimate, the total palay harvest in the first half may reach nearly 9.06 million MT, marking the second time in the country’s history that output in the six-month period breached the nine-million-MT mark.

The first time palay production in the first half surpassed nine million MT was in 2023 at almost 9.03 million MT, the same year the country posted its record-high full-year production of 20.06 million MT.

On an annual basis, the projected first-half palay production is six percent higher than last year’s 8.53 million MT, PSA data showed.

Industry stakeholders and government officials earlier noted that second-quarter harvest may increase above the 2023 figures after some farmers delayed their planting as reflected in the contraction of area harvested in the first quarter.

The PSA estimated that total palay harvest area in the second quarter could expand by 9.2 percent to 972,730 hectares from last year’s 890,600 hectares. Likewise, the average palay yield may increase by 3.7 percent year-on-year to 4.48 MT per hectare from 4.32 per hectare.

As of May 1, the PSA said about 612,650 hectares of the estimated total palay area have been harvested, translating to a palay output of 2.82 million MT.

The Department of Agriculture estimated that the country would post a record-high palay harvest of 20.46 million MT this year due to better weather conditions and more state production interventions.

The projected palay output translates to a milled rice production of nearly 12.89 million MT, still insufficient to meet the country’s total rice demand of 15.54 million MT.