India and China signed a protocol to export Indian tobacco leaf to China, which has the largest tobacco consumer market with more than 350 million smokers nationwide, The Indian Express reported.

India’s Commerce Secretary, Anup Wadhawan and Zhang Jiwen, vice minister of General Administration of China Customs (GACC), which is responsible for accessing agricultural market access issues for Indian products, signed the export protocol on 21 January 2019, according to the report.
In a statement about the protocol, the Indian embassy was quoted as saying, “Quality tobacco on par with international standards is available in India at competitive prices and there is good potential for export of Indian tobacco to China. The revival of the phytosanitary protocol with China will pave the way for revival of Indian tobacco exports to China and prove economically beneficial to Indian farmers.”
Since holding an informal summit on market access issues for Indian products in 2018, GACG has also approved and signed protocols on exports of non-basmati rice to China, exports of rapeseed meal from six Indian mills and exports of fish meal and fish oil, The Indian Express reported.
In 2018, India’s exports to China rose to USD 18.84 billion, an increase of 15.2 per cent compared to 2017, according to the report.