Rice stocks from last year’s harvests and this year’s cropping season assure the country of supply for three months but there is still need to import as augmentation during the lean months of production. A team of PhilRice economists, led by Deputy Executive Director Flordeliza Bordey, collected data for a study on rice security, self-sufficiency and competitiveness. Together with the 900,000 MT of imported rice and the carry-over stock of 2.7 million MT from 2017, the country has 16.1 million MT in the first quarter of this year. The prevailing stock will be boosted by the 2.9 million MT harvest in the first quarter.