San Miguel Corp. bought 37,000 tons of corn from Brazil at $224 per ton, including cost and freight, for delivery on Saturday, an official from the state-run National Food Authority (NFA) said on Friday.

The corn will arrive at the Cagayan de Oro port on southern Mindanao island, said the official from the NFA, which imported the grain on behalf of San Miguel.

The NFA can bring in the grain at a lower tariff of 35 percent, under a tax subsidy scheme, versus the regular 50 percent import duty.

Including the latest purchase, Southeast Asia's biggest food and drinks firm has bought more than 200,000 tonnes of corn so far this year for use mainly as animal feed, with domestic output seen slipping.

Philippine production of corn is forecast to drop 2.6 percent to 3.21 million tonnes in the first half of 2009. The government said in January early rains would depress corn output as excessive soil moisture delays planting of the crop.