PRODUCTION

The seasonally adjusted palay production for July-September 2016 was 4.50 million metric tons, higher by 4.12 percent from the  4.32 million metric tons output in the second qu arter of 2016 (Table 1).

The increment was attributed to the improvement in yield. There were more usage of high yielding varieties as a result of the High Yielding Technology Adoption (HYTA) and High Quality Seed (HQS) programs fr om the Department of Agriculture (DA). Moreover, lesser occurrence of pests and diseases, sufficient water supply and sufficient fertilizer application contributed to higher output. In SOCCSKSARGEN, fertility of soil was res tored which were left in-fallow duringdrought.

Figure 1. Quarterly Palay Production, Philippines, 2010-2016

Year on year, this quarter’s performance when deseasonalized was up by 18.09 percent or 689 thousand metric tons (Table 1).

Figure 2. Quarterly Farmgate Prices of Palay, Philippines, 2010-2016

PRICES

The seasonally adjusted farmgate price of palay and retail price of rice for the third quarter of 2016 improved by 13.13 percent and 2.86 percent from their respective levels in the sec and quarter of 2016 (Table 1). However, the wholesale price of rice declined by 1.07 percent from its level last quarter (Table 2).

Figure 3. Quarterly Wholesale Prices of Rice, Philippines, 2010-2016

This quarter’s deseasonalized farmgate price of palay was 15.56 percent higher than last year ’s price (Table 1). Moreover, wholesale and retail prices of rice went up by 1.12 percent and 0.41 percent from their respective price quotations compared with the same period last year (Table 2).

Figure 4. Quarterly Retail Prices of Rice, Philippines, 2010-2016