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Paddy rice output in the third quarter may register a double-digit decline due to the contraction in harvest area, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

Based on its latest report, the agency said some 334,330 hectares or 44.4 percent of the 753,680 hectares planted with rice have been harvested as of September 1. These areas yielded 1.32 MMT of paddy rice.

All other rice plantations not yet covered by the survey will likely add almost 1.9 MMT of paddy rice, but the resulting figure will be lower than the actual output of 3.75 MMT recorded a year ago.

Of the total area of 1.8 million hectares of standing palay as of September 1, the PSA said 40.6 percent were at the reproductive stage, 38.3 percent at the vegetative stage, and 21.1 percent at the maturing stage.

The PSA’s latest estimate is 4.8 percent lower than its initial projection of 3.26 MMT.

Yield per hectare will inch up by 0.7 percent to 4.12 metric tons (MT) from last year’s 4.09 MT, but harvest area will shrink.  The PSA said the harvest area in the third quarter may have contracted by 17.8 percent to 753,680 hectares, from the 916,770 hectares posted in the previous year.

 “Of the farmers planting intentions for July to September 2026 at 1.58 million hectares perceived area, 1.38 million hectares or 87.5 percent have been actually planted.”

Fewer corn

In the same report, the PSA said corn output in July to September may slide by 14.2 percent to 2.08 MMT, from the 2.43 MMT recorded in the same period last year.

As of September 1, the PSA said around 387,380 hectares or 55.9 percent of the 692,550 hectares have been harvested, which yielded 1.14 MMT of corn output.

Harvest area for corn will likely contract by 12.3 percent to 692,550 hectares from the 789,240 hectares in the same period last year, the PSA said.

Furthermore, it added that yield per hectare would be lower by 2.3 percent compared with the previous year’s 3.07 MT.

Of the total 707,300 hectares of standing corn as of September 1, 40.8 percent were at the maturing stage, 31.5 percent at the vegetative stage, and 27.7 percent at the reproductive stage.

“As for the farmer’s planting intentions for July to September 2026, 402,140 hectares or 63.6 percent of the 632,420 hectares perceived area have been actually planted.”

Source : businessmirror