The Chinese quarantine bureau has announced that China has lifted the bans on pork imported from North America:
Earlier in the year, China banned imports from the three countries on worries of outbreaks of H1N1 flu. After assessment of risks, the bans were lifted, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said in a notice on its website.
The lifting of the ban had been expected earlier by officials in United States, the largest pork exporter, which exported $560 million to China in 2008.
“The lift will not spur imports into the country,” said Guo Huiyong, an analyst with Beijing Orient Agri-buiness Consultant Co. Ltd. China’s pork imports this year have fallen partly because China, the world’s biggest pork consumer, has increased its own production, driven by Beijing’s subsidies over breeding sows.