Spain stops pork exports to China after African swine flu cases

Spain’s Agriculture Ministry said it has halted all pork exports to China after two wild boar found dead near Barcelona tested positive for African swine flu, the first cases in three decades.

The outbreak, the first since 1994, coincides with Spanish efforts to court Beijing and gain market share in the pork sector and after China imposed tariffs on EU pork during an anti-dumping investigation.

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 (US$4.05 billion).

The Director-General of Agri-Food Production Health and Animal Welfare, Emilio Garcia, told reporters the measure was implemented in line with a recently agreed bilateral protocol with Beijing.

Once China declares that protocol has been activated it will be able to resume exports from regions that are not affected by the virus.

Barcelona is in the Catalonia region, which accounts for about seven per cent of the country’s pork farms, according to Agriculture Ministry figures.