MANILA – The country has a sufficient supply of rice, the Department of Agriculture (DA) assured the public on Tuesday, amid the surge in the prices of the country’s staple food.
In a statement, DA Senior Undersecretary Leocadio Sebastian said the rice supply is enough to meet the Filipinos’ food requirements in the third quarter of 2023.
Sebastian said the carry-over stock of 1.8 million metric tons (MMT) milled rice and import arrival of 1.8MMT are enough to fill in the demand and consumption of seven MMT from January to June.
“By the end of June, the stock available will be good for more than two months, in (addition) to the incoming supply from the new harvest and import arrivals in the coming months,” Sebastian, who heads the DA’s Masagana Rice Industry Program (MRIP), said.
Sebastian attributed the current movement in rice prices to the “high cost of production locally and globally.”
“We expect this to stabilize,” he said.
He said a “bountiful” harvest for the January to June rice planting season is seen to boost the supply by 6 percent.
“This is based on PhilRice PRISM data of 8.153 MMT palay production in 2022 to 8.605 MMT palay or 5.6 MMT milled rice in 2023,” he said.
Earlier this month, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., also serving as DA chief, directed the department to look into the feasibility and efficiency of the proposal to build silos as rice and corn storage to maintain a 30-day buffer stock of agricultural commodities.
Marcos also expressed optimism that the government may surpass 100-percent rice self-sufficiency with its agricultural initiatives. (With reports from Ferdinand Patinio/PNA)