BOGOTA - The Colombian government has identified agro-industry and manufacture as the sectors with the better selling potential in the growing Chinese market, a government official said on Friday.

Coffee, dairy and candies are products that can have great demand in China, Maria Claudia Lacouture, president of Colombia's Export Promoting Office (Proexport), said in an interview with local radio station "La FM".

Lacouture said Proexport is following colsely the consumption trends in China to find opportunities for a great variety of Colombian products.

"Last year, Colombia occupied position 47 as China's trade partner. The potential is very big and we have identified the opportunities to reduce the commercial gap," she said.

Proexport has two offices in China, one in Beijing and the other in Shanghai.

According to Proexport's study on the Colombian exporters' view on the Chinese market, currently Colombian products have opportunities in agro-industrial and manufacturing sectors.

Among the products with better possibilities are special coffee, sugar, honey, dairy, processed fruits, vegetables, beverages, juices and vegetable extracts.

Other products with opportunities in the Chinese market are living animals, decorative fishes, beverages, rum and sugar-cane spirits, cocoa products, chocolates and candies.

Also, products such as glycerol, fungicides and insecticides, chemical and pharmaceutical products, medicines, semi-processed leathers and swimsuits have opportunities in China.

According to the Colombian Ministry of Trade, Industry and Tourism, during the first half of 2012, the Colombian exports to China reached $2 billion.

The Proexport's study was released two days after a meeting between China's Commerce Minister Chen Deming and Colombian Trade Minister Sergio Diaz Granados, who signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen trade ties.