'With our inventory plus imports, going into the first quarter of next year our supply of rice nationwide will be ample,' DA Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa said in a forum.With the palay production this October, which is the peak of the harvest during the wet season, De Mesa said they expect 77 days of national rice stock inventory this month.This could increase to 94 days once the wet season harvest ends in November, he said.
'We believe the price of rice will affect it. If we look at it, food inflation contributed to it,' he said. 'And our estimation is that the effect of Executive Order No. 39 was slowly being felt towards the last week of September.'De Mesa said that they saw a low level of compliance among rice retailers in the initial week of the implementation of EO 39, which set a price ceiling for regular and well-milled rice.