Ada Pelonia and Samuel P. Medenilla

THE country’s rice stocks slid by 8 percent in September, pulled down by smaller inventories from the National Food Authority (NFA), based on latest government data.

Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that rice inventory dropped to 1.91 million metric tons (MMT) as of September 1, from the 2.07 MMT recorded last year.

Meanwhile, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said it will urge rice traders to calibrate their imports during the start of the harvest season to help stabilize farmgate prices of the food staple in that period. 

This after DA Secretary Francisco Tiu P. Laurel Jr. reported they expect a possible shift in the price of palay (unhusked rice) as farmers start harvesting their crops.

“The price of palay is holding.  Although it’s not as good to last the harvest season,” he said in Filipino in a press briefing in Malacañang on Monday. 

Based on DA’s price monitoring, the lowest price for wet unhusked rice is P16.50 per kilo, while the highest is P20 per kilo.

“So, in  general, [the price of unhusked rice] is okay.  So there is no reason to  restrict importation,” Laurel said.

Last year, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. approved a temporary import ban on rice upon DA’s recommendation due to the plunge in the farm-gate price for the staple, to a low of P8 per kilo. 

DA wants to keep the price of palay stable as it ordered its attached agency, the National Food Authority (NFA), to exhaust its available funds to continue buying from farmers. This way, it can refill its warehouses, which are now 40 percent filled, as it prepares for the “strong” El Niño. 

Currently, he said the government has sufficient food supply based on their national food inventory. This, even after the DA reported that dry spells caused by El Niño have already reached P6.8 billion.   

The DA chief said the country has sufficient supply of rice to meet local demand for 75 days. For corn, it is 90 days; chicken, it is 125 days; and pork for 170 days. 

“So, if we just maintain—if we are able to maintain this [supply], there’s no reason to panic [when it comes to food supply] actually,” Laurel said.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. met with the heads of DA, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Health, Department of Science and Technology, Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), and the Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) in Malacañang last Monday to get updates on government preparations for El Niño.

The OCD reported that 106 cities and municipalities as well as the provinces of Isabela, Cagayan, Camarines Norte, Dinagat Island, and Agusan del Sur have declared state of calamity because of the effects of El Niño.

According to Pagasa, the ongoing weather phenomenon, which is expected to intensify until December, will persist until the next half of next year.

12.4% contraction in Sept inventory

On the rice inventory, meanwhile, the PSA noted that last month’s stock inventory also posted a 12.4-percent contraction from the 2.18 MMT recorded in August.

Of the rice stocks, the PSA said 42.8 percent or 816,440 metric tons (MT) was held by commercial entities while 42.2 percent or some 803,690 MT was stored by commercial entities.

The agency added that rice stocks in the NFA warehouses as of September 1 reached 286,580 MT, accounting for 15 percent of total inventory during the reference month.

“This month’s rice stocks inventories registered annual decreases from the NFA depositories by 36.1 percent and from the households by 0.6 percent. On the other hand, an annual increase was noted from the commercial sector by 0.1 percent,” the PSA said.

“In comparison to the August 2026 rice stocks levels, decrements were noted from the commercial sector by 21.0 percent, from the NFA depositories by 6.6 percent, and from the households by 3.8 percent.”

Corn inventory surges

In the same report, the PSA said total corn inventory as of September 1 surged by 47 percent to 816,460 MT from 555,400 MT in the same period last year.

Despite this, the latest total corn inventory slipped by 1.5 percent on a monthly basis from the 829,300 MT registered in August.

“From the same month of the previous year’s level, corn stocks inventory as of 01 September 2026 recorded annual increases from the households by 55.8 percent and from the commercial sector by 46.1 percent.”

“Relative to the inventory level in August 2026, decrease was noted in the volume of corn stocks from the households by 28.7 percent. Meanwhile, corn stocks inventory from the commercial sector increased by 2.8 percent.”

PSA data showed that corn stocks held by the commercial sector accounted for 90 percent of 734,430 MT, while those in households made up 10 percent of the inventory at 82,040 MT.

Image credits: Nonie Reyes

Published Date: October 6, 2026