PRODUCTION

The seasonally adjusted palay production for October-December 2016 was 4. 485 million metric tons, slightly higher by 0.1 6 percent from the 4.478 million metric tons output in the third quarter of 2016 (Table 1).

The increase in production was due to the improvement in yield. There were more usage of high yielding varieties and availability of sub subsidized seeds from the Department of agriculture (DA). Moreover, sufficient water supply during the reproductive stage of the crop and lesser infestation of stemborers and incidence of rice blast and bacterial leaf blight contributed to higher output.

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

Year on year, this quarter’s performance when deseasonalized was down by 4.08 percent or 191 thousand metric tons (Table 1).

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

PRICES

The seasonally adjusted wholesale and retail prices of rice for the fourth quarter of 2016 improved by 2.41 percent and 0.32 percent from their respective levels in the third quarter of 2016 (Table 2). However, the farmgate price of palay declined by 12.21 percent from its level of the previous quarter (Table 1).

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

This quarter’s deseasonalized farmgate price of  palay at P17.97 per kilogram  was the same as previous year’s quotation (Table 1). Moreover, wholesale and retail prices of rice were a little above by 0.86 percent and 0.58 percent from their respective price levels compared with the same period of previous year (Table 2).

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