China will ban all ivory trade and processing by the end of 2017, the government said, in a move hailed by conservationists as a "game changer" for African elephants.

African ivory is highly sought after in China, where it is seen as a status symbol, with prices for a kilo (2.2 pounds) reaching as high as $ 1,100.

"To better protect elephants and better tackle the illegal trade.. China will gradually stop the processing and sale of ivory for commercial purposes" by the end of 2017, the State Council, China's cabinet, said in a statement late Friday.

"Before then, law enforce-

ment agencies will continue to clamp down on illegality associated with elephant tusks," the official Xinhua news agency said, quoting a government official as saying.

A first batch of workshops and retailers would be forced to close by the end of March.

The move comes after Beijing said in March it would

widen a ban on imports of all ivory and ivory products acquired before 1975, after pressure to restrict a trade that sees thousands of elephants slaughtered every year. Conservationists estimate that more than 20,000 elephants were killed for their ivory last year, with similar tolls in previous years. The WWF campaign group says 415,000 of the animals remain.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which took effect in 1975, banned the ivory trade in 1989.

China permits the resale of ivory bought before the 1989 ban - and also has a stockpile purchased with CITES approval in2008, which it releases for sale

with certification.

Beijing would continue to allow auctions of ivory antiques deemed to have come from legitimate sources, under stria supervision, the government added.

The United States - the world's second-largest consumer of illegal ivory after China - announced in June a near-total ban on the trade of African elephant