Beijing: India-China bilateral trade has set a new record by crossing the $10 billion mark for the first time during which India has also emerged among the top 10 Asian trading partners of the Communist giant.

India-China bilateral trade touched $10.84 billion during the January-October period, registering an impressive growth of 82.53 per cent over the corresponding period last year, according to Chinese customs statistics.

Bilateral trade during the first 10 months of 2004 has already achieved the $10 billion target set by the political leadership of the two Asian giants, official sources said in Beijing.

Two-way trade between the two sides is expected to hit $12 billion during the January-December period, they said.

During the January-October period, India was China's eighth largest trading partner after Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. Japan topped the list with a bilateral trade of $135.82 billion during the first ten months.

Indian exports to China during January-October period was worth $6.27 billion, up 90.86 per cent while India's imports from China for the same period touched $4.56 billion, up 72.19 per cent over the same period last year.

During the first ten months, India enjoyed a trade surplus of $1.71 billion with China. Total monthly volume of bilateral trade in October stood at $1.05 billion.

The monthly trade value has hovered around the $1billion mark for the past seven months.