Chinese customs authorities have held up live deliveries of more than 1600 Belgian racing pigeons - selling to Chinese enthusiasts for thousands of euros apiece - in a customs dispute.
An initial batch of 401 pigeons, worth 1.7 million euros ($A2.47 million), left Belgium in July but was held in customs in Beijing until last week, Belgian daily La Derniere Heure reported on Saturday.
The shipment included a pigeon called Bolt, sold in May for 310,000 euros - making it the world's most expensive bird, according to the newspaper.
The Beijing authorities have now seized a second delivery of 1212 racing pigeons in a customs row with their Belgian sellers.
The birds, which are liable to a 10-per-cent import duty and value added tax of 13 per cent, had been declared to have a value of 99 euros each, despite their actual price being far higher, Beijing said.
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The Belgian vendors in turn said they had declared the pigeons' true value and blamed the issue on unscrupulous intermediaries.
The Belgian Foreign Ministry has reportedly intervened to clarify the matter.
Belgium, alongside neighbouring Germany and the Netherlands, is the cradle of pigeon racing, according to the sport's organisation PIPA.
It is growing increasingly popular in China, where the birds command high prices and lucrative prize money.
