There is a sufficient rice supply in the country based on the inventories made in December and January, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Laurel Jr. said.

Laurel made an assurance that the country's rice stock is "healthy" based on the recent inventories and the upcoming rice deliveries from overseas.

“As far as supply is concerned we have enough supply of rice – December, medyo healthy ang ating stocks (our stocks are quite healthy). January is healthy, there’s additional rice coming," Laurel said in Palace briefing on Tuesday, Jan. 16.

"But as far as the price is concerned, mahirap ma-predict. Ang problema iyong world price is tumataas eh ‘no dahil sa El Niño (it is hard to predict. The problem is the world price which is rising due to El Niño),” Laurel aaded.

The DA Chief pointed out that even rice-producing countries like Thailand and Vietnam also experience high rice prices.

“Ang prices ng bigas sa (Rice prices in) Thailand, which is a major rice-producing country and Vietnam ay tumataas din (is also rising) as of the moment e, so even Malaysia and Indonesia tumataas din (prices are rising). So, we have to really manage the situation and we are looking at it on a day-to-day basis,” Laurel said.

The country has an ending rice stock of 20 million tons last year and it is eyeing for similar volume this year because of the possible effects of the El Niño phenomenon that is forecasted to persist until April, Laurel further said.