Rice Stock

• The country’s total rice stock inventory as of March 1, 2003 was 2.07 million metric tons, enough for 78-day supply. It was lower than its month ago level by 8.9 percent, but 13.5 percent higher than that of last year same month.
• Stock position in all sectors dropped compared to last month with major drawdown of 12.1 percent in the households.
• Compared to the previous year’s same period stock position, all sectors posted higher stock levels. The NFA holdings registered a 25.6 percent increment with inflows from domestic procurement and imports. Imported rice accounted for 69.6 percent of NFA stocks.
• As of the reporting period NFA rice stocks was good for 28 days supply, while households and commercial warehouses were good for 33 and 17 days supply, respectively.

Corn Stock

• The March 1, 2003 total corn stock  inventory stood at 221 thousand metric tons, 4.3 percent lower than last month but significantly above that of last year by 21.9 percent.
• Compared to their month and year ago levels, the current holdings in the households increased by 15.8 and 14.0 percent, respectively. This was because corn harvest came in February. In contrast, stocks in commercial  warehouses dropped by 19.9 percent from previous month but rose to 32.1 percent from that of last year.
• Around 53 percent of the current corn stocks are with the households and 47 percent are with the commercial warehouses. No stock was reported by NFA.