PRODUCTION

The seasonally adjusted palay production for July - September 2017 was 4.96 million metric tons, 3.42 percent above the 4.80 million metric tons output in the second quarter of 2017 (Table 1).

The boost in production was attributed mainly in the increase of the harvest area brought by sufficient water supply and government interventions on the provision of high yielding varieties seeds and fertilizer support during the cropping period. These were largely contributed by Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, MIMAROPA, Western Visayas, and SOCCSKSARGEN.

Figure 1. Quarterly Palay Production, Philippines, 2011-2017

Year on year, this quarter’s performance when deseasonalized was up by 13.46 percent or 589 thousand metric tons (Table 1).

Figure 2. Quarterly Farmgate Prices of Palay, Philippines, 2011-2017

PRICES

The seasonally adjusted farmgate price for palay and wholesale price for rice in the third quarter of 2017 rose by 0.05 percent and 0.08 percent, while retail price for rice declined by 0.48 percent from their respective levels in the second quarter of 2017 (Tables 1 & 2).

Figure 3. Quarterly Wholesale Prices of Rice, Philippines, 2011-2017

This quarter’s deseasonalized farmgate price for palay was below the previous year’s quotation by 7.98 percent, in contrast to wholesale and retail prices for rice which were higher by 1.16 percent and 0.75 percent, respectively (Tables 1  and 2).

Figure 4. Quarterly Retail Prices of Rice, Philippines, 2011-2017

ROMEO S. RECIDE
Assistant Secretary
Deputy National Statistician
Sectoral Statistics Office