The Chinese authorities have given their Portuguese counterparts the task of checking whether Portuguese slaughterhouses are fit to export the pork they produce to China, the Portuguese Food and Veterinary General Administration says.

The administration issued a written statement saying the Chinese customs service will no longer inspect Portuguese slaughterhouses itself.

The Chinese action is welcome because greater sales abroad of Portuguese farm output has a snowball effect, the statement quotes Portuguese Minister of Agriculture Maria do Céu Albuquerque as saying.

In January her ministry said that so far the Chinese authorities had permitted nine Portuguese slaughterhouses to export pork to China.