INDIA has urged China to drop a years-long ban on rapeseed meal imports from the South Asian nation at a meeting with government officials and feedmakers as it aims to boost sales of critical farm goods amid growing U.S.-China trade tensions.

The meeting was held at India’s embassy in Beijing on Wednesday, according to an Indian government official and a soymeal purchasing manager at a pig farmer who attended.

The aim was to lobby China to resume purchases of rapeseed meal, a key ingredient in animal feed, and to drum up interest in the country’s other major agricultural products, the two said.

China was the biggest buyer of Indian rapeseed meal until it banned the purchases in late 2011 over quality concerns. China imported Indian oilseeds worth US$161 million in 2011.

“The meeting in China ended without any concrete results, but there will be more meetings in China and Delhi on this issue,” said an Indian government official.

A copy of the meeting schedule described it as a meeting of buyers and sellers, with a session introducing India’s exporters followed by one-on-one meetings between importers and exporters.

The lobbying highlights how countries are rushing to deepen trade ties with China, the world’s largest agricultural market, as hefty tariffs on U.S. goods, including soybeans, threaten supplies of ingredients used in animal feed.

Soybeans, used to make meal for animal feed, were the United States’ biggest agricultural export to China last year worth US$12.7 billion.

China has also been seeking alternative sources of critical ingredients in animal feed, such as rapemeal. (SD-Agencies)