MANILA, Philippines - Thailand, the world's biggest rice exporter, has offered to sell up to 1 million tons of rice to the Philippines, the largest buyer, in a government-to-government arrangement, Manila's agriculture minister said on Tuesday. Arthur Yap said the offer is on top of a Philippine proposal to buy only 370,000 tons tariff-free rice annually from Thailand in exchange for Manila's refusal to cut rice import duty fully under a regional trade agreement.

"That's what's on the table right now," Yap told reporters about Thailand's offer.