"The situation was getting out of hand, so the government had to do something," said Feng Yuankai, spokesman for the China Musical Instrument Association.
"Basically the manufacturers have supported and embraced the new policy as a way to maintain a sustainable industry, the certification also means that they are legally trading in python skins, which was not the case before the new regulations."
In 2003, China's nearly 100 erhu manufacturing enterprises used some 30,000 python skins to produce about 400,000 erhus, with production expected to continue rising with growing international demand, Feng said.
"This is a 1,000-year-old tradition in China, so at first I think that the manufacturers were not too happy about the new policy," said TRAFFIC East Asia's Hu.
"The new regulations have resulted in the price of python skin rising by almost 100 percent, but now the manufacturers are finding that they can raise the price of their erhu as well, which I think they like."
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