BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina, a country famous for its steaks, will start exporting bovine genetics this year to China, which is trying to improve its meat production as consumption surges.

The world's second-largest beef producer, China produced 7.85 million tonnes of the meat in 2007. But local consumption is skyrocketing and should approach 8 million tonnes this year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The Asian country aims to increase volume and improve the quality of its production, particularly since the Olympic Games will be held this August in Beijing.

And an Argentine livestock firm has stepped in to help.

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"They're interested in producing meat, above all this type of meat, and they're very interested in getting technology transferred from a country like Argentina, which has a centuries-old tradition of raising cattle," said Carlos Marietti, director of the Don Panos cattle-breeding firm.

The firm will set up a breeding farm in the Chinese province of Anhui, where it will send embryos, semen, technology and Argentine cattle to reproduce with local bovine. The aim is to produce a type of meat not yet found in China.

The company, owned by Argentina's Unitec Agro, plans to start sending materials to China in the coming months, after first meeting all the government's animal health requirements.

The World Organization for Animal Health announced last year that Argentina was free of foot-and-mouth disease with vaccination, after the last outbreak in 2006.

China acknowledged the South American country's new status in November.

"New markets are available now. We've already exported genetics to Scotland, France and Canada, which is unprecedented in Argentine history. And China is a very important client because of the quantities it buys," said a specialist at Argentina's plant and animal health service, Senasa.

In 2007, Argentina exported 474,856 tonnes of beef valued at $1.45 billion, according to Senasa.

(Reporting by Maximilian Heath; Writing by Gaspard Sebag)