THE rice inventory declined 18.1% year on year, while that of corn rose 1.5% at the start of June, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.
In a report, the PSA said that the rice inventory during the period was 1.82 million metric tons (MT), with holdings of households, commercial warehouses and the National Food Authority (NFA) all declining.
“As of June 1, about 48.7% of the total rice stocks were from the households, 46.6% were from the commercial sector, and 4.7% were from NFA depositories,” it said.
Household rice, dropped 15.7% to 885 thousand MT, while commercial warehouses held 848.11 thousand MT, 14.8% lower from a year earlier.
Rice held by the NFA amounted to 85.1 thousand MT, down 51.5% year on year.
On a month-on-month basis, the rice inventory fell 3.4% from May.
“Rice in the NFA depositories and household sector registered a monthly decrease of 15% and 11.0%, respectively… While (an) increment of 7.6% was noted in the rice stocks held by the commercial sector,” the PSA said.
Meanwhile, the PSA also said the corn inventory rose 1.5% year on year to 886.46 thousand MT during the period.
“Corn inventory in the household sector increased by 30.5%, while corn stocks from the commercial sector recorded an annual decline of 1.1%,” it said.
Corn held by commercial establishments was 791.96 thousand MT, accounting for 89.3% of the total.
Household corn, on the other hand, rose to 94.5 thousand MT, or 10.7% of the total.
Compared to a month earlier, the national corn inventory rose 32.6%.
“Corn stocks from the commercial and household sectors as of June 1 exhibited monthly growth of 35.4% and 12.9%, respectively,” the PSA said. — Adrian H. Halili