NEW DELHI, June 10 (Reuters): China and India signed two deals - one on rice and the other on Brahmaputra River - on Saturday.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping signed the deals as they began the two-day Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit.
Under the rice deal, certain requirements will be amended on Indian exports of rice other than the premium Basmati variety to China.
In the other deal, China will share hydrological data on the Brahmaputra River.
With the signing of the deal on Brahmaputra, the two countries have settled a dispute over the flood-prone river that flows from Tibet to Bangladesh.
India said last year that China had not stuck to an agreement to share hydrological data on the movement, distribution and quality of water for Brahmaputra River.
China had cited "technological" reasons.
India has also been concerned about the rising trade deficit with China, and has sought greater access to the world's second-largest economy for some its products.
Indian exports to China products include rice, rapeseed, soybeans and sugar.
India's trade gap with China has widened to $51 billion, a nine-fold increase over the past decade.
The rice deal should help India finally crack the market in China, the world's biggest buyer of the commodity, traders said.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimates that China will buy 6.4 million tonnes of rice in 2018.
According to the FAO estimate, India will export a total of 11.9 million tonnes of rice in 2018.
"Despite competitive prices, India was unable to export rice to China due to their phytosanitary norms," said a New Delhi based dealer with a global trading firm.
The firm referred to food standards as well as animal and plant hygiene.
"As the norms are going to change, India can easily export more than one million tonnes rice every year to China."
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