The amount of smuggled ivory tracked down in China fell 80 percent in 2016 from previous peak years, the country's State Forestry Administration (SFA) said on Feb. 26.

Photo taken on May 18, 2015 shows smuggled artworks made of ivory seized by members of Hangzhou Customs, in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province. Hangzhou Customs announced Thursday that they have seized over 270 kilograms smuggled ivory and about 9 kilograms rhino horn since June last year. [Xu Yu / Xinhua]

Liu Dongsheng, deputy head of the SFA, made the remarks at the opening ceremony of a wildlife protection campaign, without specifying detailed numbers.

China will stop commercial processing and sales of ivory by the end of this year. Last year, it imposed a three-year ban on ivory imports in an escalated fight against illegal trading of wild animals and plants.

"The number of illegal wildlife trade cases has been on the decline since last year," said Liu.

Meanwhile, the numbers of critically endangered species in China, including giant pandas, crested ibis, Yangtze alligators, and Tibetan antelopes, have been increasing steadily, he added.

China's newly-revised law on wild animal protection took effect at the start of this year, imposing harsher punishment on overkilling and illegal utilization of wild animals.