Rice stock rises by nearly a fourth, but corn drops

DESPITE a prolonged dry spell that cut palay production by 11% in the first quarter, the country’s rice inventory at the start of May was up by 24% from a year earlier, data from the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) show. However, corn stock dropped 16% as of May 1 from the same period last year, the same data showed. Rice inventory increased to 3.32 million metric tons (MT) last May 1 from 2.68 million MT, year on year. The inventory was also 20% more than the 2.77 million MT at the start of April, the data show. Of the 3.32 million MT, 33% was in households, 14% in commercial warehouses and 53% in depositories of the National Food Authority (NFA). When compared with inventory from the previous year, household inventory was down by 6.4% while commercial warehouse stock was up by 3.6%. Meanwhile, NFA stock, of which 83% were imported rice, increased by 65% to 1.756 million MT from 1.063 million MT last year, according to the data. The May 1 inventory was estimated to be enough to supply the country’s daily needs of 36,300 MT for 93 days, the data show. "The bulk of the rice stock is due to the rice imports last year that have already arrived," NFA spokesman Rex C. Estoperez said in a telephone interview yesterday. The Philippines has ordered 2.45 million MT of rice this year, 2.25 million MT of which was bought by the government and are being shipped in tranches until this month, and the remainder is being brought in by private firms until Sept. 15. "We have a very good inventory of rice. We are ready for the lean months that is expected to start in July [and end in September]," said Mr. Estoperez. Palay production decreased by 11% to 3.49 million MT for the first quarter of 2010 from 3.94 million MT in the same period last year. The Department of Agriculture projected further decrease of 9% in second-quarter production to 3.11 million MT from 3.43 million MT last year, according to the department’s first-quarter report released last May 17. Palay production in the third quarter is seen to decrease by 4% to 3.39 million MT from 3.52 million MT from last year. Meanwhile, corn inventory as of May 1 went down by 16% to 195,000 MT from 232,000 MT in the same period last year. Corn inventory was also lower by 19% from April’s stock of 240,000 MT. Twenty-three percent of corn stock was held by households, 56% by commercial warehouses and 21% in NFA warehouses. BAS data showed a 43% decrease in corn stock in households and a 29% decrease in stock in commercial warehouses, year on year. There were no recorded corn stock in NFA warehouses in May last year. Corn production dropped by 16.8% to 1.6 million MT in the first quarter of 2010 from 1.92 million MT last year due to El Niño. Production was projected to decrease in the second quarter by 37% to 820,000 MT from 1.3 million MT for the same period last year, according to the Agriculture department’s first-quarter report. Moreover, the department projects a 6% decrease in corn production for the third quarter to 2.22 million MT from 2.37 million MT last year.