Cheesemongers celebrate as China scraps ban on 'smelly' cheeses like brie, Roquefort and stilton

Customs officials had forbidden the importation of soft and mould-ripened cheeses

Stilton was among the cheeses affected by the ban

China has scrapped a ban on importing soft and mould-ripened cheeses including brie, gorgonzola and stilton.

Customs authorities last month forbid businesses from bringing the cheeses into the country because of concerns over the bacteria used to produce them.

European Union (EU) officials have since been lobbying against the ban, which affected many popular continental products.

Cheeses including Roquefort, camembert, and Danish blue also fell foul of the ban because they were made using strains of bacteria that were not approved in China.

The quarantine was lifted following talks between the EU and Chinese customs officials at the weekend.

To avoid further such bans, the EU’s China delegation and the French Embassy in China said that they would arrange a meeting with Chinese cheese experts. The EU delegation’s statement said China’s cheese standards were “outdated”.

China's mainly expatriate cheesemongers have celebrated the announcement.

"We are very happy about the decision," said Vincent Marion, co-founder of Shanghai-based delivery service Cheese Republic. "I think it's a way for China to show they're really open-minded to selling foreign products and especially cheese."

He told the BBC the ban had affected more than half the products his business sold.

The import restrictions were lifted with immediate affect but it is expected to take several weeks for banned cheeses to make their way back through the supply chain to reach shelves in China.

Research by Euromonitor predicted cheese sales in the country will be worth 5.3bn yuan (£620m) this year, up more than a quarter from 2016. More than 90 per cent of the cheese eaten in China is imported.