India's bilateral trade with China will cross $10 billion this calendar year, but the country needs to diversify from iron-ore exports to other areas such as dairy, yarn and electrical machinery for sustaining the momentum, a top government official said on Monday.

"We should be crossing $10 billion by December-end," Vinay Kwatra, counsellor (economic & commercial), Embassy of India in Beijing said while addressing a conference organised by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry to promote India's trade in North East Asian regions including Japan, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

India's bilateral trade with China during the last calendar year stood at $7.6 billion. Figures till January-August this year show bilateral trade crossing last year's figure at $7.69 billion.

Kwatra said iron-ore constituted 58 per cent of India's exports to China. "This is not sustainable. We need to diversify to other areas," Kwatra said. The new focus should be on sectors such as gems & jewellery, dairy products, heavy machinery, electrical machinery, etc, he said.

Inaugurating the conference in Chennai, Rahul Khullar, joint secretary, Union Ministry of Commerce & Industry, said this was the first time that the government was organising a conference of commercial representatives of North East Asian region.