China has banned on all trade in ivory and ivory products, Euronews reports.

The news service says the ban came into force on Monday.

The report quotes the World Wide Fund for Nature and WildAid as praising the Chinese ban, in particular because it may save elephants in Angola and Mozambique, where there has been much hunting of elephants for their ivory in the past few years.

Separately, Xinhua reports that the Chinese authorities closed 67 ivory stores or workshops in the first 364 days of last year, and intended to close another 105 on the last day of the year, just before the ban came into effect.

A campaign in China against trading in ivory reduced the price of ivory by 65 percent last year, the Chinese state-run news agency says.