MONTEVIDEO - Uruguay's President Jose Mujica Tuesday predicted a strong growth in trade with China, one of its main trade partners.

When commenting on the Uruguay-China trade relations on the state radio, he said "it will increase in a very notable way".

"Nobody in the world today can ignore China due to its purchasing power and its competitiveness in the international market," said Mujica, who visited the Asian country in May.

"We are powerful sellers of food, and China is a powerful buyer," the president said. "It is inevitable for us to trade intensively with China."

Mujica did mention, however, that with a smaller economic scale, Uruguay's industrial cost was far less competitive than that of the Asian country.

He said 52 percent of Uruguay's foreign trade happened within the Common Market of the South (Mercosur), a regional trade bloc that includes Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela.

Mujica said Uruguay should "look to the world without forgetting the value of the region".