Page 31 - EIA Report on Tanzanian African Ivory Smuggling 2014 report
P. 31
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In 2004, nine ivory carving factories and
31 retail outlets were permitted by the
SFA to process and sell ‘legal ivory’,
which at that time was claimed to
consist only of pre-ban ivory.102 With the
injection of more ivory from the 2008
CITES auction, there are now more than
180 licensed ivory processing and retail
facilities, with clusters in Beijing,
Shanghai, Guangzhou and Fujian. In
effect, the four state-owned firms which
bought the auctioned ivory operate as a
cartel, releasing into the market only
five tonnes of raw ivory a year from the
auction, with a substantial mark-up of
US$1,500 per kilo on the purchase price
of US$157 per kilo.103
EIA investigations in Guangdong in said otherwise he would be punished ABOVE:
2010 found that ivory retailers believed with a reduced processing quota, the Duwei near Xianyou in Fujian,
about 90 per cent of ivory on sale in the annual allocation set by the SFA. an important ivory processing
region came from illegal sources.104 and retail hub.
China’s internal control systems were In Guangdong and Fujian, the black
clearly inadequate and the notion that market price for raw material is lower 30
the legal sale would dampen down than prices for ‘legal’ ivory and has also
demand for illegal ivory untrue. been steadily increasing. A common
observation made by EIA investigators
EIA Investigations in Guangdong during the recent visits to China is that
while legal ivory raw material is in short
and Fujian supply, illegal ivory is readily available
and constitutes the bulk of available
In November 2010 and September 2013, raw material.
EIA investigators visited Guangdong and
Fujian, two provinces in southern China In 2010, in addition to the licensed
known as major ivory smuggling and traders, EIA investigators also met
processing centres. Many of the large with a range of uncertified ivory dealers
ivory seizures in China over recent years and retailers. These conversations
have occurred in the two provinces. revealed a market free of effective
control, with Guangzhou as the main
In 2010, EIA met four of the seven centre. Dealers spoke of a network of
licensed companies authorised to suppliers in Guangdong, controlled by
produce and trade ivory in Guangdong three ‘big bosses’. The groups use
province. One such Guangzhou-based shifting smuggling routes, such as via
retailer told EIA that licensed factories northern Vietnam, and sophisticated
have to purchase an annually allocated methods such as concealing ivory in
supply from a few designated companies, metal boxes suspended below ships, and
which inflate the price for raw material. they even manipulate market prices by
He complained that the Government stockpiling tusks.
supplies are very expensive and the
ivory being distributed is insufficient. When EIA investigators visited Fujian in
This was reflected in the retail prices of 2013, the other key trafficking hub in
ivory products in licensed retail outlets China, there was an evident nervousness
in Guangzhou, which are much higher among the ivory trading circle – recent
than elsewhere. enforcement activities resulting in
high-profile arrests made traders more
In 2013, EIA met with five of the eight cautious. However, EIA confirmed that
SFA-accredited companies in Fujian while the illegal ivory trade had become
Province. Discussions revealed that the more clandestine it was still flourishing;
raw ivory from the auction is now being “every trader on the inside knows who
offered at up to US$3,000 per kilo. to go to for the materials,” claimed one
One trader divulged that the SFA now unlicensed ivory trader.
requires licensed retailers to sell
finished products at a price no less than
RMB 40,000 per kilo (US$6,500) and
