"From today... the buying and selling of elephant ivory and goods by any market, shop or vendor is against the law!" the forestry ministry said on its official account on Chinese social media platform Weibo.

"From now on, if a merchant tells you 'this is a state-approved ivory dealer'... he is duping you and knowingly violating the law."

From The Weekender

Success isn’t at the top of the corporate ladder anymore

My generation watched our parents give everything to a company. We decided to give it to ourselves instead. But it's more complicated than that.

Read on The Weekender

The ministry added that the ban also applied to online sales and souvenirs purchased abroad.

According to the Xinhua state news agency, a partial ban had already resulted in an 80 percent decline in seizures of ivory entering China. Domestic prices for raw ivory are down 65 percent, it said.

The total domestic ban was announced at the end of last year.

Read also: China bans ivory imports for 1 year to protect elephants

By this March, Xinhua reported, 67 factories and shops involved in China's ivory trade had closed.

The remaining 105 were expected to close Sunday.

China had previously banned imports of all ivory and ivory products acquired before 1975, after pressure to restrict a trade that sees thousands of elephants slaughtered every year.

African ivory is highly sought after in China, where it is seen as a status symbol, and used to fetch as much as $1,100 a kilogramme.

Poaching in Africa has seen the elephant population fall by 110,000 over the last 10 years to just 415,000, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Despite an overall fall in poaching, Africa's elephant population has declined in part because of continued illegal killing, said a report this year by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

From The Weekender

Our second Instagram account is the real one

In an act of rebellion against overexposure and performative social media, Gen Z are turning to smaller, controlled spaces on social media where they can be their authentic selves.

Read on The Weekender

Popular

Why Indonesia must write ASEAN’s green rules

Freeport Indonesia pushes back full copper mine restart

Growth without gain: Why Indonesians don't feel the economy