THE rice inventory fell 7.7% from a year earlier to 2.193 million metric tons (MT) as of Feb. 1, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.
In its rice and corn inventory report, the PSA said household rice stocks rose 12.4% year on year to 1.18 million MT, while inventory held by commercial warehouses fell 15.7% to 708.94 thousand MT.
Rice inventory held by the National Food Authority (NFA) fell 38.1% to 302.48 thousand MT.
Month on month, the PSA said the rice inventory was down 6%, with household stocks down 8.5% holdings of commercial warehouses up 2.8%, and stock held by the NFA down 14.2%.
The corn inventory as of Feb. 1 rose 18.4% year on year to 774.83 thousand MT.
Household corn stocks rose 46.5% year on year to 224.29 thousand MT, while holdings of commercial warehouses rose 9.8% to 550.54 thousand MT.
Compared to the previous month, the PSA said household stocks fell 22.4%, and inventory held by commercial warehouses fell 11.9%. The NFA held no corn stocks during the period.
“Of the total corn inventory, 28.9% were in households, and 71.1% were in commercial warehouses,” the PSA said. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave