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China Opens Markets to North American Pork

The China Daily newspaper reports that China's quarantine bureau has lifted its bans on imports of pork products from the United States, Canada and Mexico. But analysts say the move would not likely lead to a surge of new imports. Earlier in the year, China banned imports from the three countries on worries of outbreaks of H1N1 flu.

The lifting of the ban had been expected earlier by U.S. officials. The United States is the largest pork exporter, exporting $560 million worth of pork to China in 2008.

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. China's pork imports during the first 10 months were 110,000 tons, only one third of 373,000 for the whole of last year, according to figures provided by Beijing Orient.