Inventory stocks of rice and corn at the start of April recorded improvements, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
In a report, PSA said as of April 1, total rice stocks inventory in the country stood at 2.51 million metric tons (MT), a 2.5 percent increase from the 2.44 million MT recorded in the same period last year.
Rice stocks inventory level for April surged 53.5 percent compared with 1.63 million MT the previous month.
More than half or 54.8 percent of April’s total rice stocks inventory were from the households followed by the 39.8 percent from commercial warehouses, wholesalers and retailers and the remaining 5.4 percent from National Food Authority’s depositories.
The PSA noted the country’s corn stocks inventory reached 777,370 MT as of April 1, an 8.9 percent increase from April 2021’s 713,680 MT.
The country’s corn stocks inventory grew 73.4 percent from March’s inventory level of 448,310 MT.
About 76.9 percent of the corn inventory were from commercial warehouses, wholesalers and retailers with the remaining 23.1 percent from households.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. (PCAFI) said government should improve support systems for private businesses to prepare for an imminent food crisis arising from many global phenomena that compel food producers to ban export.
It cited Russia, Ukraine and India among those which have stopped wheat exports.
“Government should provide the right environment and incentives for the private sector to invest, expand their production, value chain and supply chain logistics… Government should not kill them with competition from cheap and subsidized imported products,” said Danilo Fausto, PCAFI president, in a statement.
