Spain blocks part of meat exports after new cases of African swine fever

A significant portion of Spain's export certificates has been temporarily blocked. More than a hundred of the approximately four hundred certificates are unusable. This outbreak of the deadly animal disease primarily affects exports to China and dozens of other countries outside the European Union.

Trade within the EU can largely continue, but shipments from the affected northeastern Spanish province are limited. This Spanish province hosts a large part of the companies and slaughterhouses and plays a decisive role in national meat and food production. As a result, Spanish companies dependent on markets outside the EU are directly impacted by the suspension.

Spain is a major player in European pig production. The country is one of the leading producers within the EU, with large sales to more than one hundred countries worldwide. The sector thus constitutes an important part of the Spanish food industry and the agricultural sector.

The first infections were detected in two dead wild boars near Barcelona. This prompted the immediate activation of national measures. The animal disease was detected again in Spain for the first time in about three decades.

African swine fever is not dangerous to humans but is serious for pigs and wild boars. The virus causes high mortality rates and leads to strict trade restrictions when infections are confirmed, as is now the case in Catalonia.

In recent years, the disease has mainly appeared in the eastern and southeastern parts of the European Union, especially in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, and Slovakia. A few years ago, the export of pork from Germany to China almost completely stopped.