3
Ivory stocks in Hong Kong
Because Of our control
there
10.
system, we know that are, at present, some 100 tonnes of whole tusks, 400 tonnes of cut pieces and scraps, and 170 tonnes of worked ivory legally- held in Hong Kong. These represent legal imports accumulated over more than ten years. A large proportion of the existing stocks have been imported from E.C. Member States and Japan with the approval of their respective governments. Claims that Hong Kong traders
traders have been stockpiling in anticipation of a worldwide ban have no substance. Indeed, Hong Kong's annual ivory import in the past three years have decreased to one third of those in early 1980s, and in the first 6 months of 1989 Hong Kong has exported more ivory than it has imported.