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Fattening pigs from Germany are no longer allowed to be sold in most non-European countries
Photo:
Stefan Sauer / DPA
According to a spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, pork can no longer be exported from Germany to most non-EU countries.
Because currently no certificates can be issued that the pork is free from African swine fever, said the spokeswoman on Monday in Berlin.
Therefore there is not only an import ban in China, Japan and South Korea, but also a de facto export ban.
However, the ministry made it clear that EU countries were not affected because a regional principle was accepted within the EU.
This means that only pork from regions in which the so-called African swine fever has also occurred, as in Brandenburg last week, is affected by an export ban.
There are currently very tough negotiations with countries like China to also accept this regional concept and not to block exports from an entire country, said the spokeswoman.
Japan suspended imports of German pork on Friday, said a spokesman for the Ministry of Agriculture.
However, Japan only imports comparatively small amounts of pork from Germany: last year it was 40,240 tons - excluding sausages and other pork products.
According to the Tokyo Department of Agriculture, that was only 3.3 percent of total pork imports.
Live pigs were not imported at all in 2019.
Record exports to China
China, on the other hand, is the most important export market for German pork outside the EU.
According to the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden, exports there reached a record 53,000 tons in November 2019, worth 160 million euros.
The first case of African swine fever in Germany was confirmed on Thursday;
a wild boar had been found in Brandenburg that had died of the disease.
German pork prices fell immediately.
The virus is harmless to humans, but fatal to domestic pigs and wild boars.
According to the government, no further case of African swine fever has appeared in Germany so far.
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