There was less rice available in the country at the beginning of April, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported.

Based on the PSA’s latest report, the rice inventory was 1.843 million metric tons at the beginning of that month, a decrease of 26.5 percent compared to 2.506 million metric tons in the same period last year.

Out of the total inventory, households had 1.015 million metric tons of rice, which accounted for 55.1 percent. This is a decline of 26 percent from 1.373 million metric tons last year.

Commercial warehouses stored about 728,730 metric tons of rice, which is a decrease of 26.9 percent from 997,420 metric tons last year. This represents 39.5 percent of the overall inventory.

The National Food Authority (NFA) depositories held 99,030 metric tons of rice, accounting for 5.4 percent of the national total. This is also 27.1 percent lower compared to 135,870 metric tons in the previous year.

Compared to March, the national rice inventory registered a significant increase of 30.8 percent from 1.409 million metric tons.

Month-on-month, the household sector posted a growth of 25.1 percent in rice stocks, while the commercial sector saw an increase of 47.4 percent.

In contrast, the rice stocks in NFA depositories decreased by 3.9 percent compared to the previous month.

 

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