Rice inventory drops to 17-month low

The country's rice stocks in February fell to their lowest level in more than a year despite higher imports recorded at the start of the year.

- JASPER EMMANUEL ARCALAS

In its latest report, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said total rice inventory as of Feb. 1 stood at 1.51 million metric tons, slightly lower than the 1.52 million MT recorded in the same period last year.

The rice inventory last month was the lowest in 17 months or since the 1.45 million MT recorded in September 2022, PSA data showed.

"Month-on-month, the volume of rice stocks inventory recorded a decrement of 25.5 percent from the previous month's inventory of 2.03 million metric tons," the PSA also said.