The country’s total rice inventory as of January this year has dwindled compared to year-ago levels. Stocks in commercial warehouses, households and National Food Authority (NFA) depositories were at 2.28 million metric tons (MT). This was lower by 17.2 percent than the 2.76 million MT inventory level last year. Similarly, it declined by 19.64 percent from the 2.8 million MT in December last year.