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The illegal trade in ivory continues in Egypt, with ivory products sold openly in local tourist markets by traders who operate with impunity, a new study by the conservation group Traffic has found.

The report, published in the group’s journal, suggests that while the volume of elephant ivory seen in Egyptian tourist markets has declined over the past decade, the country remains a major hub in the global ivory trade.

Investigators who surveyed two of the country’s biggest tourist centers found that ivory craftsmen and vendors were able to operate with very little risk of arrest.

“Egypt is one of the largest illegal markets for elephant ivory in Africa,” the study noted. “Tusks are smuggled in, mostly through Sudan, and sold to ivory workshops in Cairo” where they are “openly carved and displayed without any prosecution ensuing.”

Trade in ivory was banned in 1990. An Egyptian ministerial decree issued in 1999 makes it illegal to import, export or possess ivory products, or to offer them for sale.

The trade in ivory in Egypt “is completely illegal without a permit, which has never been given,” said endangered wildlife consultant Esmond Martin, the lead author of the report. “Unfortunately, there is absolutely no law enforcement.”

Posing as tourists, two Traffic researchers counted more than 8,000 ivory items openly for sale in Cairo’s bazaars, hotel souvenir shops and other tourist outlets.

The most common ivory products in Cairo were animal and human figurines, jewelry, and carved scarab beetles.

It added that large tusks could fetch over $360 per kilogram, while damaged tusks and fragments were selling for about $150 dollars per kilogram.

Western visitors continue to buy, but the study revealed a new consumer with growing spending power and a strong taste for carved elephant tusks: the Chinese.

“In 2005, the Chinese were hardly buying any ivory. Now they account for over half of all sales,” Martin said.

The number of Chinese tourists and expatriates in Egypt has grown significantly in the past decade as the two countries increase commercial ties and air links. In 2001, there were only about 100 Chinese expatriates in Egypt. By some estimates, there are now over 60,000 Chinese expatriates and 100,000 tourists a year.

Ivory traders told researchers that Chinese expatriates and tourists were their principal buyers. One vendor said groups of Chinese buyers would often spend $50,000 on ivory during a single bargaining session.

According to Martin, lax enforcement and the influx of heavyweight buyers is reversing gains made against Egypt’s illegal ivory trade in the early 2000s and fueling the poaching of Africa’s elephants.

Tourism was down at least a third in 2011 due to political instability associated with the uprising against President Hosni Mubarak last February.

“We can only expect the volume of ivory traded to increase as tourist numbers go up,” Martin said. 

IPS