The European Union has ended its 20-month suspension of animal
and meat imports from China. Franz Jessen, deputy head of the
European Commission delegation to China, made the announcement at
the EU Embassy in Beijing on Monday.
The ban covered a wide array of products, including shrimp,
farmed fish, honey, royal jelly and rabbit meat.
In January 2002, the EU banned the imports for safety reasons,
particularly because of the presence of residues of veterinary
medicines in food and animal feed from China. The imports affected
were worth about 400 million euros, said Jessen.
During the past two years, the EU has monitored China's
improvements in food production and security while Chinese
enterprises have learned more about the standards and requirements
of the EU. The results of inspections by EU member states had
previously led the commission to relax restrictions on several
products, including casings, sea-caught fish and crayfish.
China has made remarkable progress in controlling and monitoring
the residues on food products, and the commission is now satisfied
that it can safely ease import restrictions, Jessen stated.
The Customs Bureau reports that total China-EU trade in the
first eight months of this year hit US$111.6 billion, up 36.6
percent year-on-year. China's exports were valued at US$65.5
billion and imports at US$46.2 billion, up 39.0 percent and 33.4
percent, respectively.
On May 1, 2004, the EU expanded its member countries from 15 to
25, thus becoming China's largest trade partner and fourth largest
investor. China is the second biggest trade partner of the EU.
(Xinhua News Agency October 18, 2004)