MANILA - The Philippines, raring to export corn for the first time ever to trim excess supply, is considering selling the commodity to India and Kenya, a top official said on Tuesday.

"We should explore the option of being able to sell corn to Kenya," Socio-economic Planning Secretary Augusto Santos told reporters.

"And we should monitor very well the situation in India. Half of India is suffering from drought...and easily they are in demand of about 10 million tons, and we should explore that opportunity also."

The Philippines is looking at exporting surplus corn to stabilize domestic prices which have fallen to their lowest levels since 2001, according to industry group Philippine Maize Federation Inc.

The group estimates there is excess corn of around 800,000 tons this year after the government allowed imports of more than 1 million tons of feed wheat at zero tariff to aid the local feed sector that was hit by high corn prices earlier this year.

The Philippines said last month it was ready to ship up to 150,000 tons of yellow corn to Vietnam which is planning to buy between 500,000 and 800,000 tons of corn after selling millions of tons of rice to Manila.

Santos said the government can start off talks with Kenya by donating a small volume of corn to that country.

"When they see our corn is good, then they will start to buy our corn and we can dictate the price already," he said.

With 98% self-sufficiency, the Philippines produces just about enough corn to meet its needs.

Manila expects corn output to rise 2.3% to 7.09 million tons this year on increased cropland and yield, with production forecast to recover in the second half after a 2.3% drop in January-June.

Yellow corn, used mostly for feed, makes up nearly two-thirds of the Philippines' corn output while the rest is white corn, used mainly for food.