PH rice supply enough for Q3–DA
“The rice supply is enough to provide for the daily food requirement of Filipinos for the 3rd quarter of the year.”
This was the assurance made by Department of Agriculture (DA) Undersecretary Leo S. Sebastian as he sees a 6-percent rice production increase for the January–June planting season.
“This is based on PhilRice PRISM data of 8.153 MMT (million metric tons) palay production in 2022 to 8.605 MMT palay or 5.6 MMT milled rice in 2023,” said Sebastian, who heads DA’s Masagana Rice Industry Program (MRIP).
Sebastian added that the volume, plus the carry over stock of 1.8 million metric tons (MT) milled rice, based on Philippine Statistics Administration (PSA) and augmented by import arrival of 1.8 MMT, is enough to fill in the demand/consumption of 7 MMT from January to June.
“By the end of June, the stock available will be good for more than 2 months, in additional to the incoming supply from the new harvest and import arrivals in the coming months,” he said.
Sebastian stressed that the price movement currently taking place is due to the high cost of production locally and globally that also pushed the price of palay and imported rice, respectively.
“We expect this to stabilize,” he said.
AUTHOR PROFILE
Nation
