Palay output seen slightly lower in 2018

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s total production of palay (unhusked rice) is seen to slightly decline this year due to delayed plantings and the effects of recent weather disturbances.

Based on the latest crops outlook of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), palay production may reach 19.17 million metric tons (MT) in 2018, one percent lower than last year’s 19.28 million MT.

The PSA projection is still higher than the Department of Agriculture’s output estimate of 18.6 million MT.

For the fourth quarter, palay production may decrease by one percent to 7.26 million MT.

Harvest area may shrink by a percentage to 1.85 million hectares while yield is seen steady at 3.93 million MT per hectare.

Meanwhile, corn production is also expected to decline from 7.91 million MT in 2017. Expected output for the last quarter is seen to reach 1.83 million MT, 12 percent higher than the previous year.

This as harvest area may rise by seven percent to 612,000 hectares and yield may improve to 2.98 MT per hectare from 2.85 MT per hectare a year ago.

Palay production fell 1.39 percent to 4.68 million MT from July to September due to to the decline in harvest areas resulting from early plantings during the last two quarters due to sufficient water supply.

Meanwhile, the seasonally adjusted farm gate price for palay rose four percent in the third quarter.

Wholesale and retail prices for rice also grew by five and four percent respectively.

The third quarter’s deseasonalized farm gate price for palay was above the previous year’s estimate by 14 percent.