November 2, 2005

China halts poultry imports from 14 countries

China has banned poultry imports from 14 countries in an attempt to prevent the bird flu from reaching its shores.

The import ban, announced by the Ministry of Commerce, took effect Nov 1 and might be in place indefinitely.

Hit by the ban are Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia, Japan, North Korea, Romania, Croatia, Kazakhstan, South Africa, Mongolia, Turkey, Russia and Sweden.

Poultry imports would also be temporarily suspended from any other countries that report cases of bird flu.

China's agriculture ministry said that no human cases of bird flu have so far been detected in China, though the disease has killed more than 60 people in Asia since 2003.

In the meantime, China and US have been discussing measures on the prevention and control of bird flu, and have reached an agreement to step up cooperation and transparency in information exchange to facilitate the trade of poultry products between the two countries.