Madrid | Reuters — African swine fever has returned to Spain for the first time in three decades after two wild boar found dead near Barcelona tested positive for the virus, the Agriculture Ministry said on Friday, putting growing pork exports to China at risk of a ban.
The outbreak, the first since 1994, coincides with Spanish efforts to court Beijing and gain market share in the pork sector.
Read Also
Europe, North America face early wave of bird flu cases
An unusually early outbreak of bird flu cases affecting high numbers of wild birds and poultry farms across Europe and North America is raising concerns of a repeat of previous crises that led to mass culling and food price spikes.
WHY IT MATTERS: African swine fever has been devastating for pork sectors in countries where infections have been found. Wild pigs — which were found to be infected in Spain — are also a potential disease vector of concern for the Canadian hog industry.
But any ban could be limited in scope after China and Spain signed a deal this month that would mean China would only restrict imports from an affected region rather than from all of Spain. Barcelona is in the Catalonia region, which accounts for about eight per cent of the country’s pork farms, according to Agriculture Ministry figures.
Spain is the European Union’s leading pork producer, accounting for roughly a quarter of the bloc’s output, ahead of Germany, with annual pork exports of about 3.5 billion euros (C$5.7 billion).
“It’s not good news. The European market is already struggling after a 20 per cent drop in prices since July,” said Jean-Paul Simier, a meat analyst at French commodities research group Cyclope.
“There is a risk of an embargo against the biggest EU pork exporter, notably in Asia, and China in particular.”
Spain’s farmers’ association Asaja said the sector was ready to face the outbreak, but said authorities needed to address an “out of control presence” of wild animals such as boars and rabbits in rural areas that risked contaminating livestock.
“We have spent years modernizing farms, reinforcing biosecurity and making our operations among the most advanced in the world,” it said.
Spanish pork group Interporc said it was working with Catalan and national authorities on cases limited to wild boar, with a 20-km surveillance zone, showing Spain’s strong animal-health monitoring.
The ministry said it had notified the European Union and activated emergency measures in the affected area, urging pig farms to tighten security measures while investigators try to find the source of the infection.
The virus, which is harmless to humans but deadly for pigs, has been spreading westwards in Europe in recent years.
Germany’s sizeable pork industry has already been rattled, with many overseas countries imposing bans on its pork. And in recent months Croatia has been trying to contain an outbreak.
— Additional reporting by Emma Pinedo, Corina Pons, Gus Trompiz in Paris and Ella Cao in Beijing.
