By Duncan Miriri

NAIROBI (Reuters) - China wants to address the imbalance in its trade with Kenya by encouraging Chinese firms to import more from east Africa's largest economy, its envoy to Nairobi said on Monday 2 November.

Ambassador Deng Hongbo told Reuters in an interview that trade between the two nations was valued at $1.25 billion in 2008, an increase of 30.4 percent on the previous year.

He said China imported cotton, scrap metal, sisal and leather among other products from Kenya, which bought Chinese electrical equipment, textiles, chemicals and fertiliser.

According to Kenyan government statistics, it exported goods worth 2 billion shillings to mainland China in 2008 compared with imports worth 63 billion shillings.

"We attach a lot of importance to the concerns that Kenyans have in regard to the imbalance of trade," he told Reuters.

"We have made great efforts to try improve the balance of trade between the two countries by offering financial subsidies to Chinese companies to facilitate their imports from Kenya."

Deng said the subsidies covered products such as coffee, tea and flowers, along with other commodities.

Trade between China and Africa has jumped in the past decade, driven by China's resource needs and growing African demand for cheap Chinese-made products. In 2008, total trade was $106.8 billion, up 45.1 percent on 2007.

President Hu Jintao has made consolidating ties with Africa a feature of his foreign policy.

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The ambassador also said Beijing was encouraging more Chinese nationals to visit Kenya on holiday, famed for its white Indian Ocean beaches and wildlife parks such as the Maasai Mara.

"This is an area where really we can do a lot to cooperate, which can also serve as a conduit for the expansion of trade between our two countries," he said.

Tourism was Kenya's biggest foreign exchange earner in 2007 but post-election violence and the global economic slowdown hit visitor numbers from traditional European markets. Kenya's tourism board is now targeting new markets, such as China.

Kenya Tourist Board said Chinese tourists rose by 12.5 percent to 15,158 in the first nine months of this year compared with the same period of 2007, the year that is considered the benchmark for Kenya's tourism industry.

Chinese firms are active in Kenya's infrastructure and energy sector. China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) is drilling Kenya's deepest oil exploration well in northern Kenya at a cost of $26 million.

Deng said there had been discussions between both countries on the construction of Kenya's second port at Lamu, adding that further information on this would be available once feasibility studies on the project were concluded.

Kenya plans to start building the new port next year and hopes the first ships will dock there by the end of 2011. The aim is to open up a transport corridor from South Sudan and Ethiopia to the Indian Ocean.

Beijing is set to hold its second China-Africa summit in Egypt next month and Deng said new announcements were likely to be made after the meeting in areas such as infrastructure, health education and trade.