THE country’s palay (unmilled rice) production likely hit 3.10 million metric tons (MMT) in the third quarter, 17.2 percent lower that the actual output of 3.75 million MT a year earlier, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Wednesday.
The updated estimate was lower than the 3.26 million MT as of July 1.
The PSA also said that the harvest area could drop by 17.8 percent to 753,680 hectares from 916,770 hectares last year.
Palay yield per hectare, meanwhile, is projected to grow 0.7 percent to 4.12 metric tons from 4.09 metric tons.
As of Sept. 1, farmers had harvested 334,330 hectares, or 44.4 percent of the total 753,680 hectares of standing crop, producing 1.32 million metric tons of palay.
For the 1.80 million hectares of standing palay, 40.6 percent was said to be in the reproductive stage, 38.3 percent in the vegetative stage and 21.1 percent in the maturing stage.
With regard to planting intentions for July to Sept., 1.38 million hectares or 87.5 percent of the estimated 1.58 million hectares had been actually planted.
Corn production, meanwhile, is expected to reach 2.08 million MT in the third quarter (Q3). The estimate is 14.2 percent lower than the 2.43-million MT volume a year ago.
The latest estimate for corn production is also 1.2 percent lower than the 2.11 million MT as of July 1.
Corn harvest areas, the PSA said, could have fallen 12.3 percent to 692,550 hectares in Q3 from 789,240 hectares.
The yield per hectare could slip by 2.3 percent to 3.00 metric tons from 3.07 metric tons.
As of Sept. 1, farmers had harvested 387,380 hectares, or 55.9 percent of the 692,550 hectare harvest area, producing 1.14 million metric tons of corn.
Of the 707,300 hectares of standing corn, 40.8 percent was in the maturing stage, 31.5 percent in the vegetative stage, and 27.7 percent in the reproductive stage.
Over the period, 402,140 hectares or 63.6 percent of the estimated 632,420 hectares were planted with corn.
