Nationwide rice inventory at 4-month high in April

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s total rice stocks in April rose by a quarter on an annual basis to over 2.3 million metric tons (MT) on the back of higher supplies held by households and the National Food Authority (NFA),  the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.

Nationwide rice inventory as of April 1 reached 2.34 million MT, about 480,000 MT higher than the 1.86 million MT recorded in the same period last year.

On a monthly basis, rice stocks expanded by 45.3 percent from 1.61 million MT recorded in March, PSA data showed.

Half of the country’s rice stocks were from households while 35 percent were from the commercial sector. The NFA accounted for almost 15 percent of the country’s total rice inventory in April.

Rice stocks in households reached 1.18 million MT, about 25 percent higher than the 938,010 MT last year. PSA data showed that household rice stocks rose to its highest level in 28 months or since December 2022.

Meanwhile, NFA rice stocks surged by 733 percent to 346,450 MT from 41,560 MT. The NFA rice inventory was its highest stocks in over four years or since January 2021.

Rice inventory of commercial sector, however, fell by 6.4 percent year-on-year to 820,840 MT from 876,590 MT.

“In comparison to the March 2025 rice stocks levels, increments were noted from the commercial sector by 55.5 percent, from the households by 49.8 percent, and from the NFA depositories by 15.5 percent,” the PSA said.

In the same report, the PSA said the country’s corn inventory as of April 1 stood at 583,610 MT, about three percent lower than the 602,140 MT recorded volume last year. On a monthly basis, the corn stocks were 58.4 percent higher than the 368,510 MT recorded last March.