The Philippines said it expected corn output in the first half of 2003 to rise 6.2 percent to 2.05 million, reducing the pressure on imports.

Higher the pressure would mean lower imports of corn and other substitutes like wheat. Traders have said the country imported about 1.4 million tons of wheat and corn for animal feed last year.

"First semester output will definitely be higher. This will be achieved because our farmers are becoming more productive in terms of being able to harvest more even with lesser land area to toil," Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo said in a statement.

Total area planted to corn in the first six months shrank 1.27 percent to 950,919 hectares from 963,197 in the same period last year after some farmers shifted to sugar while others abandoned their fields due to the El Niño weather pattern.

But despite the reduction in total corn area, Lorenzo expected in total corn area, Lorenzo expected first half yields per hectare to increase by seven percent to 2.15 tons from efficient use of fertilizer would help boost the first-half harvest.

"Government-sponsored farmers' training on hybrid corn production, integrated pest management and balanced fertilization seem to be paying off because we now see more and more farmers increasing their yields," Artemio Salazar, head of the corn program at the Department of Agriculture, said.