China’s ivory trade ban starting from the first day of 2018 as an effort in cracking down on illegal trade of ivory and protection of African elephants is hailed by foreign media, cankaoxiaoxi.com reported on Jan. 2.

Deutsche Welle, Germany’s public international broadcaster, reported on December 31, 2017, that China announced it would end the commercial processing and sales of ivory by the end of 2017, according to China’s State Forestry Administration, calling it was a “New Year gift to the elephant.”

The ban means all 34 processing enterprises and 143 designated trading venues have been closed in what was once the world’s largest ivory market.

Statistics shows that the number of ivories ferreted out by China Customs declined by 80 percent since China joined global efforts to ban imports of ivory and ivory products.

A report by World Wildlife Fund and TRAFFIC also say that Chinese consumer awareness of the ivory trade ban should still be improved.