The country’s production of the seasonally adjusted palay (unmilled rice) fell by 4.6 percent to 4.69 million metric tons (MMT) in the first quarter of 2019 as compared to 4.88 MMT a year ago, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.

In its ‘Seasonally Adjusted Palay/Rice Production and Prices’ report, PSA said palay output for the January-March period also dropped by 0.4 percent from 4.711 MMT in the previous quarter.