Storms cut RP rice output in Q2
Reuters | 05/20/2009 2:48 PM
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Two tropical storms that slammed rice-growing areas in the Philippines earlier this month have destroyed nearly 2 percent of projected rice output for the second quarter, the government said on Wednesday.
Tropical storm Chan-Hom left 60 people dead and 13 are still listed missing mostly due to landslides and flashfloods, according to the latest report from the National Disaster Coordinating Council. Damages to infrastructure and agriculture reached P1.28 billion ($27 million).
The Department of Agriculture said 15,951 tons of unmilled rice were wiped out by the storm, representing 0.5 percent of the April-June target of 3.22 million tons.
An earlier tropical storm, Kujira, eroded 39,699 tons of paddy rice, or about 1.2 percent of the second-quarter goal, according to a government report released May 6.
Farmers harvested 3.94 million tons of unmilled rice in the first quarter, up 5.1 percent from a year earlier, but slower than the government's forecast of 6.4 percent growth.
The agriculture department has said second-quarter rice production may contract 4.4 percent following a double-digit increase in the same period last year.
However, the government said on Monday the early rains should boost the harvest in the third quarter by 2.35 percent to 3.55 million tons, and bring nine-month output to 10.92 million tons, up 3.16 percent from a year ago.
The Philippines imports around 10 percent of its annual rice needs and is the world's biggest buyer of the grain.
The monsoon season, which usually starts late in May, began early in the Philippines, a country that is hit by an average of about 20 typhoons every year.
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