Aquatic products from southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region have regained market access to European Union (EU) countries after a four-year suspension due to the EU's ban on Chinese animal food, said an aquatic exporter here.

Forty tons of African crucian exported by the Guangxi-based Hong'en Aquatics Co. Ltd. passed customs quarantine checks to go into the Netherlands earlier this month.

The company said it raised the fish especially for the EU market starting from December last year. The batch of the export has been examined by EU's food safety experts at the customs in Rotterdam, which proved to be up to par with the EU's safety standard.

The EU suspended the export of animal food from China claiming to have verified chloromycetin in shelled fresh shrimps from the country in January 2002. The embargo was not rescinded until August 2004.

In order to help local aquatic exporters regain access to the EU market, the Guangxi Provincial Quality Supervision Inspection and Quarantine Bureau sent experts to inspect local aquatic farms and carry out on-the-spot quarantine checks using EU's safety standard.

The subtropical region to the northwest of southern China's Beibu Gulf has favorable natural conditions for aquatic breeding. African crucian raised in fish farms in coastal Beihai City in the region has been recognized by the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture as one of the best in quality in the country. So far, the region's annual output of African crucian has reached 300,000 tons.

(Xinhua News Agency February 14, 2006)