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Asia
Today, most ivory is obtained illegally from Africa and manu-
factured and sold in Asia. Ivory is legal to work and sell in this
region, with certain restrictions. Commercial ivory is illegal in
India, Sri Lanka and Nepal, and these countries have small ivory
markets, though illegal activity exists (Menon
et al.
1998; Martin
and Stiles 2002).
From the 1970s to the mid 1990s, the majority of the world’s
worked ivory was aimed at export, except in Japan, where lo-
cal buyers predominated. The largest local markets at the time
of the 1989 CITES trade ban were found in Hong Kong, Ja-
pan, Thailand and Taiwan. Ivory manufacturing had decreased
significantly in China and Hong Kong. In 1985 there were a
combined total of 2,000 to 2,500 ivory craftsmen in China and
Hong Kong, while in 2002 the number was probably less than
200, not counting those who worked mammoth ivory. China’s
ivory factories and workshops went from at least 20 large ones
to about 10 smaller ones in the same time period. These indica-
tors suggest a clear decline in market demand for ivory manu-
factured in China immediately following the CITES trade ban,
which was caused mainly by the drop in demand fromWestern
export markets and buyers.
Some evidence points to a rise in domestic ivory market activity
in China beginning around 1996. This view is supported by the
rise in ivory seizures that have occurred there since 1997, the
significant increase in the number of ivory retail outlets and
items displayed for sale between 2002 and 2011 in Guangzhou,
and the increase in the number of registered ivory factories
from 20 in 2002 to 36 by the end of 2011 (Milliken
et al.
2002,
2007, 2012; Martin and Stiles 2003; Martin and Vigne 2011b;
Gabriel
et al.
2012). Additionally, information from Hong Kong
indicates that ivory market scale has remained stable since
1990, supporting the view that elephant ivory activity there has
dropped, except for the rapid growth in mammoth ivory use
(Martin and Stiles 2003; Martin and Martin 2011). Ivory carv-
ing in Taiwan has also dwindled, where new ivory is now being
imported from mainland China (Martin and Stiles 2003).
While ivory market activity appears to be on the rise in China,
it has been more variable in other parts of Asia, such as in
Japan, Thailand, Viet Nam and Myanmar (Vigne and Martin
2010; Stiles 2009; Stiles 2008; Shepherd and Nijman 2008),
Although there are many gaps in knowledge about recent ivory
activity in South and South East Asia since the year 2001 (Martin
and Stiles 2002), data from the Elephant Trade Information
System (ETIS) shows a significant increase in the number of
large-scale shipments to Asia. Low-level illegal ivory market
activity carries on in countries in South and South East Asia
(Martin and Stiles 2002; Nijman and Shepherd 2012; Martin
et
al.
2011). China, Thailand and Viet Nam have been identified as
significant problem countries in illegal ivory activities and the
trade of other wildlife products (Milliken
et al.
2012; Martin and
Vigne 2011b; Stiles 2008, 2009).
Worked ivory markets in Asia were historically aimed mainly
at exports and foreign visitors. However, due to regional eco-
nomic development, Asians have themselves have become sig-
nificant consumers of worked ivory.
China has a thriving counterfeit antique ivory market, which
facilitates exporting to Western countries.