The Philippine Statistics Authority's (PSA) recent inventory report released on Wednesday said the national supply of rice stock plummeted by 7.5% from February to March this year.
The report further indicated that the rice inventory amounted to 1.41 million metric tons (MT) at the beginning of March, which was a 13.7% decrease compared to the previous year.
Graph from the Philippine Statistics Authority
The PSA also noted that there was a month-on-month reduction of rice stocks in the household sector by -7.5%, in the commercial sector by -8.7%, and in NFA depositories by -1.6%.
The household sector, which makes up 57.6% of the total, saw a decrease in rice supply by 6.2% or 811.52 MT.
Meanwhile, the commercial warehouses recorded a decline in rice supply by 19.2%, while the National Food Authority depositories experienced a drop in supply by 33.9%.
In the same report, the PSA revealed that the supply of corn inventory decreased by 29.1% (317.86 thousand MT) from last year's inventory.
