China welcomes US confirmation of catfish product supervision equivalence

BEIJING - China welcomes the US government's move to confirm the equivalence of catfish product supervision systems between the two countries, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) said Wednesday.

The United States publicized final rules on catfish imports from China in the Federal Register on Tuesday, listing China as one of the only three countries in the world eligible to export catfish products to the United States.

The confirmation by the US authority will have positive effects on China's export of aquatic products to the United States, said a GAC spokesperson.

Previously, the Chinese catfish inspection system had already passed document reviews and on-site audits by the Food Safety and Inspection Service of the US Department of Agriculture.

The United States is the biggest export market of China's catfish products, importing more than 90 percent of China's total export catfish.

In December 2015, the United States released a regulation requiring that countries must implement inspection programs equivalent to that in the United States or lose their eligibility to export catfish products to the United States.