THE Chinese have at last officially acknowledged the UK as being free of Classical Swine Fever bringing the opening of their market for British pork and pork products a step nearer.

This move is the culmination of work by BPEX, Defra, and the British Embassy in Beijing and follows a number of BPEX trade missions organised by the China-Britain Business Council (CBBC).

China closed its market to British exports following the outbreak of CSF in East Anglia between August and December 2000 but the Chinese, unlike most other countries, had not formally accepted our CSF-free status until now.

This is a major milestone in the work to establish trade for pork and pork products between China and the UK.

The next steps are negotiations between Defra and the Chinese authorities on protocols and export health certificates for breeding pigs, genetics, pork and pork products, including offals.

BPEX Chairman Stewart Houston said: "This is excellent news. We still have a long way to go to the day when trade with China can start, but it is getting closer.

"We will continue to work with Defra and the CBBC to ensure we get access to this huge and valuable market as soon as possible."

Barclay Forrest of the CBBC said: "We are delighted that our partnership with BPEX has contributed to this significant step forward. Through our network of offices in the UK and China, CBBC will continue to support BPEX and the British pig and pork industries to do business with China."

Notes to editors: China is the largest producer and consumer of pork in the world accounting for a half of global output. Rapid economic growth and a desire to modernise agriculture is stimulating demand for pork and high quality breeding pigs. Despite the limited number of countries with access to the mainland China market, imports of pork and breeding pigs in 2003 totalled US$ 120 million (£67 million) (Source: FAO). In many cases British processors have to pay for the destruction of some pork offal that could otherwise be sold to mainland China.