German dairy and meat exports already feeling the effects of FMD outbreak

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

The German dairy and meat trade is already beginning to feel the effects of the re-emergence of the animal disease foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) near Berlin. As a result, the country has lost its international FMD-free status, prompting non-EU countries such as South Korea, Mexico and the United Kingdom to halt all imports of German meat and dairy products. 

The British import ban not only affects the import of live animals such as cattle, pigs and sheep, but also fresh meat products. This is a serious blow for Germany, as Great Britain is an important trading partner for agricultural products. The German meat industry will lose around 20 percent of its sales market for the next three months at least.

This means that large quantities of meat will now have to find new buyers in Europe. The large Danish meat company Danish Crown operates a pig slaughterhouse and two cattle slaughterhouses in Germany. Beef exports from Germany to countries outside Europe have now almost completely come to a standstill, according to the slaughterhouse. 

The director of the largest German slaughterhouse Tönnies expects a turnover loss of half a billion euros for the meat industry in the short term and a collapse of producer prices. However, German pig farmers are not very impressed because their exports to non-EU countries have already largely come to a standstill due to the presence of African swine fever in Germany.

A three-kilometre protection zone has been established around the affected company in eastern Germany, with a ban on the movement of livestock and their products. In addition, a surveillance zone has been established within a radius of ten kilometres. The European Commission's veterinary committee approved the measures taken by the German states against the FMD outbreak on Tuesday. 

The EU agreement with the protection zone, transport ban and culling at the affected farm allows the German dairy and meat trade within the 27 EU countries to continue. German Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir called it 'good news' for the sector that Brussels has not expanded the zone around the crisis area. 

In the European Union, the threat of foot-and-mouth disease has been considered averted since the nineties. Germany has also had the status of 'free of foot-and-mouth disease without vaccination' with the animal health organisations for decades. But since last Friday that has been over.