Despite the arrival of the first shipment of imported rice last month, the government’s own rice stockpile was still lower by 99 percent compared to its inventory in the same period last year, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed.
In its latest rice inventory, the PSA said the National Food Authority (NFA) inventory for June was 2,000 metric tons, down from 205,000 MT a year ago, while rice in commercial warehouses also declined by 1.92 percent to 1.26 million MT from 1.28 million MT.
The country’s total rice stocks from the two sectors declined by 8.24 percent year-on-year to 2.36 million MT from 2.57 million MT.
Meanwhile, household stocks increased by 1.47 percent to 1.09 million MT from 1.07 million MT in the same period last year.
According to the NFA, the delivery of the 250,000 MT of rice from Thailand and Vietnam is now “almost complete.” —Karl R. Ocampo