THE country's rice stocks totaled 1.87 million metric tons (MT) as of August 1, up 14.4 percent from 1.63 million MT last year, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said. Month-on-month, however, the inventory was 14.2 percent lower than July's 2.18 million MT. The national rice inventory covers both locally produced and imported rice. It represents the total volume of rice available within the country at a given period after subtracting demand from food consumption, waste and other factors. Rice stocks held by the National Food Authority (NFA) rose to 150,640 MT, or 2.4 percent higher than the 147,200 MT on July 1, and a big jump of 195.9 percent from the 50,950 MT in 2023. Commercial inventory reached 1.16 million MT, an increase of 23.3 percent from 945,100 MT in August 2023 but lower by 12.0 percent from the 1.32 million MT in July 2024. Household stocks, meanwhile, totaled 551,900 MT, dropping 13.3 percent from the 636,410 MT logged a year earlier. Majority of the rice stocks were held by the commercial sector at 62.4 percent, followed by households at 29.6 percent, and the NFA at 8.1 percent. The Department of Agriculture (DA) has estimated that the country's rice inventory would reach 3.64 million MT by yearend, or 91 percent higher than last year's 1.9 million MT. The projected volume is equivalent to about 93 days of consumption. If accurate, this could be the country's highest inventory in almost 15 years, exceeding the 3.42 million MT in 2010. Read The Rest at :