The Indian government on Monday (Jun 7) asked China to open up its markets for its basmati rice, bovine meat, and fruits and vegetables to deliver on its promise to help the country reduce the heavy trade imbalance.

Visiting minister of state for agriculture KV Thomas urged his counterpart Niu Dun to open up Chinese markets for more agro products from India.

"I have also requested Niu to import Indian bovine meat, which China requires in large quantities as WHO has already granted certificate clearing problems relating to foot-and-mouth disease in India," said Thomas, who has also urged Niu to open up Chinese markets for seven varieties of fruits and vegetables.

India is trying to expand the basket of its exports to China to build on Beijing's promise to help New Delhi reduce trade gap that rose to around US$16 billion last year.

Chinese president Hu Jintao has promised to look into New Delhi's concerns in this regard during his meeting with President Pratibha Patil late last month. Besides making a case for China to import more Indian farm items, Thomas, who is on a six-day visit to China, has also discussed with Niu the issues relating to food security and grain storage.

On Tuesday, Thomas would meet administrator of Chinas state administration of grains (SAG) to discuss cooperation in grain storage in which China has high technology and good experience.

He would visit the Beiliang Port which has world-class grain terminal with four deep-water berths capable of handling ships with 80,000 DWT besides capacity to handle 12 million tonnes and storage capacity of two million tonnes in silo blocks.

Thomas will also visit Shanghai Liangyou Group in Shanghai - the largest Chinese food firm in areas of food and oil storage, processing, bulk trade, import and export, chain sales, assets management and entity investment.