China approves imports of all U.S. poultry, poultry products

China has approved the import of all poultry and poultry products from the United States, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said on its website on Monday.

Beijing had banned all trade in poultry products from the United States since 2015 due to outbreaks of avian influenza there.

China approved poultry meat product imports in November 2019 as a concession to the U.S. ahead of finalising a limited trade deal.

The new announcement would also allow for the import of live birds, said Li Jinghui of the China Poultry Association, benefiting companies including Aviagen and Cobb-Vantress Inc, both based in the United States and among the world's biggest poultry breeding companies.

The firms have been limited to selling their breeding stock to China from production sites in other countries.

Nobody at the China offices of Aviagen or Cobb could immediately be reached by phone.

The United States is the world's top producer of poultry breeding stock.

China is the world's second-largest poultry producer and has been ramping up output to fill a huge meat shortage after a disease epidemic decimated its pig herd.

(Reporting by Dominique Patton; Editing by Kim Coghill and Christian Schmollinger)