Phl to end 2024 with 95-day rice stock

The country could end the year with a rice stock level that would last for over three months as the Department of Agriculture (DA) sticks with its palay production target of 20 million metric tons (MT).

- JASPER EMMANUEL ARCALAS

The DA is projecting a total rice inventory at the end of the year of about 3.6 million MT, which is sufficient to last for 95 days, Agriculture Assistant Secretary U-Nichols Manalo said.

The foreseen year-end rice stocks would provide the country with a comfortable supply at the start of 2025 amid weather disturbances and global trade uncertainties such as the persisting export ban by India on its non-Basmati rice.

Earlier, the government encouraged private traders and importers to bring in more rice from abroad to ensure that the country has ample supply and to stabilize domestic prices of the staple.