THE country’s total rice-stock inventory is at 2.4 million metric tons (MMT) as of October 29, according to figures released by the National Food Authority (NFA).

The NFA noted that this is 8.77 percent higher than the 2.211 MMT recorded during the same period last year.

On a monthly basis, the country’s rice stocks were 2.75 percent higher than the inventory recorded in September.

The attached agency of the DA said the country’s total rice inventory is good for 68 days based on the daily average requirement of 35,400 metric tons (MT).

Rice stocks held by the NFA accounted for about 48 percent of the national rice inventory for the period. The agency’s current rice-stock inventory was estimated at 1.166 MMT.

“[Our stocks] are more than enough to meet the country’s requirement until the end of this year based on [our] operational distribution target,” said the NFA in a report.

The agency’s rice stocks as of October 29 were 22.23 percent higher than the stocks it held during the same period last year.

Rice stocks held by the commercial sector were 0.63 percent higher than the volume recorded during the same period last year. As of October 1, stocks in the commercial sector were pegged at 416,500 MT.

Households, meanwhile, had 822,500 MT of rice stocks as of October 29. The NFA said this is 2.45 percent lower on a yearly basis.

The NFA’s rice inventory includes the 1.5 MMT which the Philippines bought from Vietnam under a government-to-government deal, and the 275,000 MT which the agency bought from a tender in July.