The Department of Agriculture assured the public on Saturday that the rice supply in the country will be sufficient until next year.

In a news forum in Quezon City,  Agriculture Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa said the government's current rice inventory including the additional imports will be enough to cover the national stock until the first quarter of 2024.

"…With our inventory plus imports, going into the first quarter of next year ay matatag po ang supply ng ating bigas sa buong bansa," he said.

De Mesa also noted that the country's palay production this October—the peak of harvest during the wet season—will also contribute to the national stock.

"We are expecting 77 days of national rice stock inventory this month," he said.  "And once the wet season harvest ends this November, we expect about 94 days of national stock inventory."

The figure, he said, still excludes the additional imports last September.

The DA expects rice imports in the third quarter to reach 271,00 metric tons, he added.

"In total, until the end of the third quarter is 2.4 million metric tons. This is 600,000 metric tons lower than three million metric tons of the same period last year," he explained.

Slower inflation can be expected as a result of the drop in rice prices in the market after September's high inflation rate, De Mesa noted.

"Kami ay naniniwala na malaki ang epekto ng pagbaba ng presyo ng bigas. Kasi kung titingnan natin, sa inflation rate, malaking bagay iyong food inflation na contribution, at doon sa food inflation, malaking contribution doon iyong bigas," he said.

The imposition of Executive Order 39, setting the price ceiling on rice, has been adequately felt in the last week of September, said the Agriculture official.

"We saw a low level of compliance among rice retailers in the initial week of its implementation, but it started to pick up in the third and last week of September, reaching 87 percent compliance."

De Mesa said a lot of retailers were selling rice even lower than P41 and P45 a kilo, as it coincided with the start of the wet season harvest that started in the last week of August.

"With the entry of September and the peak October-November harvest, there is even more supply so we can expect stability in the prices of rice and we can also expect a downtrend of rice prices in some areas nationwide," he stressed.