The country’s rice stocks fell by 15.6 percent in December 2012, but still enough to supply the country’s needs for the next three months, the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) said on Thursday.

In a report, BAS said that the country’s total rice stock inventory was pegged at 2.61 million metric tons as of December 1, 2012, or 15.6 percent lower compared to the 3.10 MMT recorded a year ago. It was also lower by 6.2 percent from the previous month’s level of 2.78MMT.

“The inventory is enough for 77 days,” the BAS said.

It added that the household stocks would last for 39 days, while stocks in commercial warehouses would last for 20 days, and those in NFA depositories would be good for 18 days.

Of this month’s stock levels, 50.6 percent were with households, 26.4 percent were with commercial warehouses, and 22.2 percent were with NFA depositories.

Relative to last year’s records, stocks in the households went up by 4.4 percent. In contrast, stocks in commercial warehouses and in NFA depositories went down by 2.9 percent and 46.4 percent, respectively.

Compared to levels in November 2012, stocks in the households dropped by 8.1 percent and those in commercial warehouses were down by 11.8 percent. Stocks in the NFA depositories, of which 34 percent are imported rice, increased by 6.6 percent.

Meanwhile, the country’s total corn stock inventory was pegged at 240,700MT, or 3.8 percent more than last month’s record of 197,300 MT. It was also 15.6 percent higher than last year’s level of 177,100MT.

Relative to last month’s levels, stocks in the households decreased by 2.1 percent, and those in NFA depositories dropped by 50 percent. However, stocks in commercial warehouses grew by 6.9 percent.

Compared to last year’s records, corn stocks in the households and in commercial warehouses were higher by 15.1 percent and 15.9 percent, respectively. On the other hand, stocks in NFA depositories decreased by 35 percent.