New trade protocols including regional tracing, with help from China, are helping Spain’s pork industry survive the economic fallout of a recent outbreak of African swine fever.
It was detected among wild boar in the Catalonia region of Spain on November 26.
Spain is the third-largest pork producer in the world and second-largest in the EU, just ahead of Germany, which exports about €3.5 billion-worth a year.
In the wake of the outbreak, Spain suspended all exports of domestically reared pork to China until the Asian country confirmed it had implemented protocols to accept imports of pork from Spain by region.
It now takes produce from the European Union member state with the exception of that from a dozen companies within the 20km restricted area near “ground zero” of the detected outbreak.
The new trade protocols were signed between the two countries on November 12, barely two weeks before the disease showed up.
Had they not been in place, Spain would have completely lost access to its largest market for pork exports.
China accounts for 42 per cent of Spain’s pork exports outside the EU, making it the country’s largest client for the produce.
At the same time, Spain is China’s largest foreign purveyor of pork products, Daniel de Miguel, spokesperson for the Spanish Inter-professional Agri-Food Organisation for White Pork (INTERPORC), told Brussels Signal.
INTERPORC is a non-profit trade group that represents the entire Spanish white pork sector, from production and processing to marketing.
“They need it,” de Miguel said of China in regards to Spanish pork.
Pork is a favourite meat for the Chinese, who are globally its largest consumers.
Spain has had a pork trade agreement with the country since 2008, according to de Miguel but working out an agreement for regionalisation of trade has taken almost 20 years.
The protocols were finalised and signed during a state visit to China by Spain’s King Phillip VI in November.
De Miguel explained that the EU’s strict rules for traceability made the regionalisation of trade possible and Spain a certified reliable trade partner.
“They’ve proven effective and trustworthy,” he said of traceability practices. “The Chinese know they are not getting fooled.”
He said Spain gained a hold on the Chinese market by adapting to the qualities and standards Chinese look for in pork.
The Asian country is not the only one that allows for regionalisation but some of the other largest pork markets such as Mexico, Taiwan and Japan do not.
Although the swine fever outbreak seems to have been contained and has not affected any domestic pigs, the appearance of the disease even among wild animals means Spain has lost its status as free from the disease. It spreads rapidly and is lethal for those animals infected.
It only affects pigs and is not transmissible to humans.
De Miguel said Spain will have to log 12 months without new cases before regaining its status as free from the disease. Countries that have closed trade with Spain at the moment may lift restrictions sooner, though.
He said that would be worked out with individual countries on a case-by-case basis.
The loss of trade is already hitting the pork market, as prices have dropped in Spain, de Miguel said.
The disease reached Europe from sub Saharan Africa decades ago but was declared eradicated in Spain in 1994.
Outbreaks among both wild and domesticated pigs remain frequent in eastern Europe. The EU has long-standing protocols to deal with the disease. EU inspectors visited the area of the outbreak in Spain yesterday.
Spanish officials suspect it may have re-entered the country from eastern Europe, perhaps in the ham sandwich of a trucker, discarded and eaten by a wild boar.
Ground zero of the outbreak was near the AP-7, a major motorway that connects with France.
