Germany

Germany Relaxes More Foot-and-Mouth Restrictions, Hopes Disease Contained

Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:10:55 GMT

Germany is relaxing some of the restrictions imposed following a case of foot-and-mouth disease and believes measures taken to contain the outbreak are working, the country’s agriculture ministry said on Wednesday.

Germany announced the country’s first outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in nearly 40 years on Jan. 10 in a herd of water buffalo near Berlin. The outbreak remains at one case, with no others reported, although the cause is still unknown.

The European Commission has approved the lifting of a three-kilometer protection zone around the original case and its redesignation as an observation zone as no new cases have been discovered, the agriculture ministry said.

This will apply until Feb. 24, then a smaller area will be under observation until April 11.

Three months must pass without a new case before Germany can be regarded as foot-and-mouth disease free.

The ministry said it is preparing an application to the World Organization for Animal Health to have Germany declared free of foot-and-mouth. This could enable export restrictions on German meat and dairy products to be lifted.

“Our determined action against foot-and-mouth is paying off,” said German agriculture minister Cem Oezdemir. “The outbreak is still restricted to one farm. This shows that the actions we took were correct and are effective.”

The EU Commission says Germany’s efforts to combat the disease would enable the regionalization principle to be used.

Under this rule, sales of meat and dairy products are only restricted from the region where the disease has been confirmed. This means that falls in German pig prices have been moderate.

Measures to contain the disease, which poses no danger to humans, often involve bans on imports of meat and dairy products from affected countries, with Britain and South Korea among states imposing import bans on Germany.

(Reporting by Michael Hogan, editing by Alexandra Hudson)

Germany Seeks Aid for Farmers After Foot-and-Mouth Disease Case

Tue, 28 Jan 2025 15:05:31 GMT

Germany’s agriculture minister will seek financial aid for farmers hit by the impact of a case of foot-and-mouth disease on a farm in east Germany, the ministry said.

The country announced its first outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in nearly 40 years on Jan. 10 in a herd of water buffalo near Berlin in the Brandenburg region. That remains the only reported case so far.

The minister, Cem Oezdemir, said that containing the disease was top priority but he wished that “no farm should close because of foot-and-mouth disease.”

The country was seeking crisis aid for farmers from the EU and was also in talks with its finance ministry, he said.

Pig prices in the country have stabilised as fears subsided that foot-and-mouth disease would spread, while the EU has indicated that German meat and dairy product sales outside the region containing the case could continue.

Some emergency measures to restrict spread of the highly infectious disease, which poses no danger to humans, were lifted but quarantine zones remain in force.

Measures to contain the disease often involve bans on imports of meat and dairy products from affected countries. The UK, South Korea and Mexico imposed import bans on Germany, with the British decision causing pain to Germany’s livestock sector.

German animal disease research institute Friedrich Loeffler has said three months must pass without a new case before Germany can be regarded as foot-and-mouth free.

(Reporting by Michael Hogan, Editing by Bernadette Baum)

Which Foreign Country Owns the Most Farmland in the U.S.? Hint: It's Not China

Thu, 11 Jan 2024 17:24:37 GMT

Controversy continues to grow across the U.S., and China is the primary target of the new rules. However, China doesn’t own the most farmland in the U.S., according to a new USDA report. It’s actually Canada, which accounts for 32%, or 14.2 million acres.

Rounding out the top five are the Netherlands at 12%, Italy at 6%, the United Kingdom at 6% and Germany at 5%. Together, citizens in those countries hold 13 million acres, or 29%, of the foreign-held acres in the U.S. China owns less than 1%, or 349,442 acres.

(Farm Journal)

All told, 43.4 million acres of forest and farmland in the U.S., or 3.4% of all ag land, is foreign owned as of Dec. 31, 2022. Roughly 30 million of those acres are reported as foreign-owned, with the remainder primarily under a 10-year-or-longer lease. Of the 30 million, 66% is owner-operated, 14% has a tenant or sharecropper as the producer and 12% report a manager other than the owner or a tenant/sharecropper as producer. The remaining 7% are “NA.”

USDA says the two biggest Chinese-owned companies with land holdings in the U.S. are Brazos Highland and Murphy Brown LLC, which owns Smithfield Foods. Brazos Highland reported owning 102,345 acres, and Smithfield owns 97,975 acres.

(Farm Journal)

The top five states with the largest Chinese holdings are:

Texas at 162,167 acres
North Carolina at 44,776 acres
Missouri at 43,071 acres
Utah at 32,447 acres
Virginia at 14,382 acres

USDA reports those five states combined account for 85% of China’s farmland ownership. In Texas, USDA reports China has long-term leases associated with wind energy, and in North Carolina and Missouri, ownership is tied to Smithfield and producers who contract for pork production.

More States to Take Up Possible Bans in 2024

Foreign-held farmland has become a hot button topic on Capitol Hill. Farm Journal Washington correspondent Jim Wiesemeyer thinks it will continue to gain momentum in 2024 as a political ploy used by candidates.

“It’s an emotional issue, and it’s not a simple issue either,” Wiesemeyer says. “I was recently in Missouri, and some commodity leaders worry about the negative consequences of going too far. No one’s saying China should not be watched relative to buying farmland near airports, national security is involved in that case, but more than a few farmers are looking at the potential downsides for pork producers who contract with Smithfield and the number of acres they own.”

One of those unintended consequences is playing out in Arkansas.

“I’m announcing Syngenta, a Chinese state-owned agrichemical company, must give up its landing holdings in Arkansas,” says Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, referencing a 160-acre research site owned by Northrup King Seed, a Syngenta subsidiary.

Eric Boeck, president of Syngenta Seeds North America, told Farm Journal editor Clinton Griffiths: “EPA and USDA many times require us to do work and permitting right in the same state as we’re going to sell products. One of the first things we have to make sure we figure out is how we work with the local community to make sure we’re still getting products tested in their backyard, so we have the ability to sell those products.”

(Farm Journal)

Syngenta argues if they sell that particular farm, Arkansas farmers will be at a disadvantage because research can’t be done in the same weather and soil conditions.

“We’re heavy in the soybean market in Arkansas, some of those maturity zones, we have a very significant market share and savings,” Boeck says. “We want to make sure we’re protecting those farmers’ abilities to be able to use our products.”

Wiesemeyer says the bigger issue for U.S. farmland might be solar panels, with farmers in states like Missouri reporting companies have offered to pay more than $1,000 per acre cash rent to put solar panels on their farm. At such a high price, he says it’s eating up acres of farmland, with the potential to grow even more in 2024.

Germany Reports African Swine Fever Case on Pig Farm

Tue, 28 Feb 2023 14:45:58 GMT

Another case of African swine fever (ASF) has been confirmed in farm pigs in east Germany, authorities said on Tuesday.

It was reported on a small farm with 11 animals in the eastern state of Brandenburg, the state’s health ministry said. All 11 animals were slaughtered as a precaution, it said.

China and a series of other pork buyers banned imports of German pig meat in September 2020 after the first case was confirmed in wild animals.

Discoveries on farms will make it harder for Germany to get the export bans lifted, analysts say.

The disease is not dangerous to humans but is fatal for pigs. Many countries impose bans on pork from regions suffering from the disease, distorting world food trade.

Wild boar coming into Germany from Poland were believed to have spread the disease to Germany, especially in the eastern states of Brandenburg and Saxony.

Some 3,007 cases of ASF in wild boar in Brandenburg have now been confirmed, the Brandenburg health ministry said on Tuesday, adding that the source of the latest outbreak was being investigated.

The German government has been seeking to contain and eradicate ASF in the east partly by reducing the wild boar population. But the country’s large numbers of wild boar, which move over great distances, has made containment difficult.

In July 2022, a case was also found on a farm in the western region of Lower Saxony, which produces much of Germany’s pork, although a wider spread in the state has been contained.

(Reporting by Michael Hogan; editing by Jason Neely and Bernadette Baum)

Swine Fever Outbreak in Germany's Top Pork State Poses Lasting Threat

Tue, 05 Jul 2022 17:59:54 GMT

The spread of African Swine Fever (ASF) to Germany’s most important pig rearing region has dealt a serious blow to the sector with major markets such as China likely to maintain import bans for years to come, analysts said on Monday.

The outbreak on a farm in Emsland, Lower Saxony is the first in the north-west region where much of Germany’s pig sector is concentrated.

ASF, which is harmless to humans but often fatal to pigs, was first found in eastern Germany in September 2020, believed to have been spread from Poland by wild boars. This prompted China to ban imports of German pork, halting a trade that had brought in around 1 billion euros ($1.04 billion) a year.

Some other major importers, including South Korea and Japan, followed suit, and rival EU producer Spain was among those able to pick up fresh business to Asia following the bans.

“This is very frightening news and if there were hopes that ASF had been confined to east Germany, and that the disease was under control, these have now been completely thrown out of the window,” said Justin Sherrard, global strategist animal protein at Rabobank.

Lower Saxony is Germany’s largest single pig production area with about 6.4 million pigs and piglets, Germany’s national statistics office says.

“With ASF cases continuing to occur in Germany no end to China’s import ban on German pork can be expected,” said Tim Koch, meat analyst at German market consultancy AMI. “Any hopes that China could lift the ban in the near future are over.”

Germany was for many years the European Union’s top pork producer but was overtaken by Spain last year after it lost access to China, the world’s largest importer of pigmeat.

Netherland, France at Risk

China’s own pig herd, the world’s largest, has also suffered heavy losses due to ASF but is beginning to recover.

“China anyway has a reduced import need for pork from Europe and it could be years before the Chinese market could be reopened to German pigmeat exports,” Koch said.

The growing number of wild boar in Germany, which can wander over long distances, means a spread of the disease had been expected despite government efforts to confine it to east Germany. Around 4,000 ASF cases in wild boar have occurred in Germany, mainly in the eastern states of Brandenburg and Saxony.

The outbreak also heightens concerns about the potential spread to neighbouring countries.

“If ASF can make a 500 kilometre jump from east Germany to north Germany the concern is that it could move to the big pork industries in the Netherlands and France,” Sherrard said.

Without any immediate prospect of regaining access to major export markets such as China, Germany’s pig faming sector is expected to shrink further.

“Germany’s pork sector would love access to China and other markets lost since ASF entered the country,” Sherrard said. “But I think there is a realisation in Germany that ASF will remain in the country for the long term and that Germany’s pork sector must adjust to a smaller customer base.” (Reporting by Michael Hogan, editing by David Evans and Barbara Lewis)

Germany Has Two More African Swine Fever Cases in Farm Pigs

Sun, 03 Jul 2022 21:29:52 GMT

Two more case of African swine fever (ASF) have been confirmed in farm pigs in Germany, Germany’s federal agriculture ministry said.

One was in the western state of Lower Saxony which was previously free of the disease and one in the eastern state of Brandenburg where the disease has been found before.

Some 280 pigs and 1,500 piglets on the farm in Emsland in Lower Saxony will be slaughtered on Sunday, the Lower Saxony state farm ministry said separately. Lower Saxony is a huge region for pig farming in Germany.

China and a series of other pork buyers banned imports of German pigmeat in September 2020 after the first case was confirmed in wild animals. Discoveries on farms will make it harder for Germany to get the export bans lifted, analysts say.

The disease is not dangerous to humans but it is fatal to pigs. Many countries impose bans on pork from regions suffering from the disease, distorting world food trade.

Wild boar coming into Germany from Poland were believed to have spread the disease to Germany in the eastern states of Brandenburg and Saxony, where over 2,000 cases in wild animals have occurred.

The German government has been seeking to contain and eradicate ASF in the east partly by reducing the wild boar population. But the country’s large number of wild boar, wandering over large distances, has made containment difficult.

In May, another ASF case was also found on a farm in the south German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg.

(Reporting by Michael Hogan, editing by Louise Heavens)

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German Farmers Give Up Pig Keeping as Pork Prices and Demand Remain Low

Wed, 22 Dec 2021 14:43:12 GMT

The number pigs on German farms has fallen to the lowest in 25 years and more farmers are giving up pig keeping because of weak demand and low pork prices, Germany’s national statistics office said on Wednesday.

The number of pigs on German farms in November 2021 fell 9.4% on the year to around 2.45 million animals, the agency said, the lowest since 1996.

Some 18,800 German farms were involved in pig production in November, down 7.8% on the year. The number of pig farms has fallen by 39.1% in the past ten years.

“The reasons include the low demand from retailers and for export along with low pork prices,” the office said.

Germany’s pork market has suffered this year from the continuing disruption to exports from the pig disease African swine fever (ASF), anti-pandemic lockdowns which reduced demand in restaurants, retailing and the hospitality sector, plus a general trend away from meat eating.

China and other buyers banned imports of German pork in September 2020 after the first case of ASF was confirmed in wild boar in east Germany near the border with Poland, but German pork sales inside Europe continue.

German pig prices have hardly changed this year, currently around 1.23 euros a kg slaughter weight. But this is well down from 1.47 euros a kg before the first ASF case in September 2020.

Cutting the numbers of wild boar will be critical to combatting ASF in Germany, the country’s newly-appointed junior agriculture minister said last week.

There have now been some 3,010 ASF cases in wild boar in the eastern German states of Brandenburg, Saxony and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern all near to the Polish border, where wild boar coming from Poland have helped spread swine fever.

(Reporting by Michael Hogan Editing by Mark Potter)

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Second Case of African Swine Fever Confirmed in Wild Boar in East Germany

Thu, 16 Sep 2021 15:22:13 GMT

A second case of African swine fever (ASF) has been confirmed in a wild boar in the Uckermark region in the eastern German state of Brandenburg, Reuters reports.

This case was discovered in a wild boar north of the other areas of Brandenburg where ASF has been found in large numbers of wild boar, just a few kilometers from the Polish border. Reuters reports the animal was found on the western side of the anti-wild boar fence along the Polish border.

Reuters reports a total of 1,670 ASF cases in wild boar have been confirmed in Brandenburg since the first was discovered in September 2020, the state health ministry said. An additional 456 ASF cases have been found in wild boar in the state of Saxony further south but only three cases on farms, which were all small farms.

In September 2020, China and a series of other pork buyers banned imports of German pork after Germany’s first ASF case. Last week, German officials said they were optimistic the disease was being confined in the eastern states of Brandenburg and Saxony along the Polish border.

The challenge remains that wild boars wander into Germany from Poland and spread this very contagious, fatal disease among pigs. ASF is not harmful to humans and poses no health or food safety concerns.

Germany’s efforts to fight ASF include building fences along the Polish border to prevent wild boar entering Germany, intensified hunting of wild boar and strict hygiene measures on farms, the article said.

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Talks With China on Ending its German Pork Ban Remain Difficult

Fri, 10 Sep 2021 13:36:39 GMT

Talks with China on lifting its ban on German pork imports after the pig disease African swine fever (ASF) was found in Germany remain difficult, German junior agriculture minister Uwe Feiler said on Friday.

China and a series of other pork buyers banned imports of German pork in September 2020 after Germany’s first ASF case.

Germany is asking China to accept the “regionalization concept” which stops pork imports only from the region of a country where swine fever has been found instead of a blanket ban on sales from the whole country.

Negotiations with China are continuing at the level of experts, Feiler told a press conference.

“These negotiations are proving difficult,” Feiler said.

Other states seeking regionalization agreements with China had so far not been successful, he added.

“It is important that we continue,” he said. “But other countries have shown their readiness to accept the regionalization concept and we are continuing to work towards China also accepting this.”

Germany has been successful in containing ASF in a small eastern region, Feiler added.

Some 2,070 ASF cases have been confirmed in wild boar since the disease was confirmed in Germany a year ago in the eastern states of Brandenburg and Saxony along the Polish border. Wild boars wondering into Germany from Poland spread the disease, which is harmless to humans but fatal for pigs.

“The countermeasures, despite hard conditions with infection pressure coming from a wide area in difficult terrain, have succeeded in restricting the cases to a small area in Brandenburg and Saxony,” Feiler said.

“Apart from three farms inside the ASF restriction zone we have been able to keep farm animals free of the disease.”

Germany’s strategy to counter swine fever includes building fences along the Polish border to prevent wild boar entering Germany, intensified hunting of wild boar and strict hygiene measures on farms.

Germany’s program to eradicate ASF will be “a long distance run” and not a sprint, said Thomas Mettenleiter, president of the Friedrich Loeffler animal disease scientific institute.

(Reporting by Michael Hogan, editing by David Evans)

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Germany Discovers First Cases of African Swine Fever in Farm Pigs

Wed, 28 Jul 2021 17:36:27 GMT

The first cases of African swine fever (ASF) have been confirmed in farm pigs in Germany, the country’s federal agriculture ministry said on July 16.

The disease was confirmed in pigs on two farms in the eastern German state of Brandenburg, Reuters reports.

Previous cases of the deadly virus of pigs have only been found in wild pigs. Approximately 1,267 cases of ASF have been discovered so far in wild pigs in the Brandenburg area, which is on the border with Poland, where the disease is widespread.

In September 2020, China and other pork buyers banned imports of German pork after the first case was confirmed in wild boars. Import bans by China and major Asian importers have continued.

The ASF cases were confirmed by Germany’s Friedrich-Loeffler scientific institute, Reuters reports. The sick pigs were discovered on one organic farm with 200 animals and on a small farm with only two pigs, the Brandenburg health ministry said. All pigs were slaughtered in an effort to keep the disease from infecting other domesticated pigs.

Germany constructed fences along the Polish border to prevent wild boars from entering Germany. In addition, six zones were established with intensified hunting of wild boars, the article said.

Germany’s regionalization concept will allow the country’s pork exports inside the European Union (EU) to continue.

ASF Cases Will Complicate Trade Talks
Negotiations about lifting existing import bans with China and other major buyers more difficult, but no major impact on the German pork market is immediately expected, Reuters reports. German pork exports are already facing bans from many importers outside the EU.

“The discovery of ASF on a German farm does not really change the overall situation much with import bans already in place by China and other importers,” Justin Sherrard, Global Strategist Animal Protein at Rabobank, told Reuters. “They cannot restrict trade further which is already stopped.”

A German meat analyst said this could perhaps make negotiations with importers like China over the regionalization concept more difficult and import bans may be expected to remain in force for the foreseeable future, Reuters reports.

ASF is a deadly virus of pigs, but does not pose any food safety or health risks to humans.

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Hopes for Barbecue Summer Lift German Pig Prices Despite Lost China Sales

Wed, 02 Jun 2021 13:51:46 GMT

German pig prices rose this week with expectations of more pork demand as restaurants reopen and hopes summer weather will get the barbecue season started, traders said on Wednesday.

Sales within the European Union also continue to help markets recover from import bans on German pork.

German pig prices rose to 1.57 euros a kg slaughter weight from 1.54 euros last week, the association of German animal farmers VEZG said.

Prices were hit last year by widespread import bans on German pork after African swine fever (ASF) was found in the country, coupled with reduced slaughterhouse capacity after coronavirus outbreaks.

“Restaurants in Germany are reopening as the COVID-19 lockdowns are at last being relaxed,” one meat trader said. “We are at last having sunnier weather in Germany after the very cold spring which should get barbecue demand started.”

“The European football championships start in a couple of weeks and such football events also traditionally create barbecue demand for pork.”

Germany continues to make large pork sales inside the EU after other European suppliers, especially Spain, raised exports to China, traders said.

China and other Asian countries banned German pork imports in September 2020 after ASF was found in a wild boar in east Germany - not a farm animal, but still causing pig prices to fall.

This led to trade displacement, with other EU countries raising exports to China, while German sales to Europe have increased.

(Reporting by Michael Hogan Editing by Mark Potter)

German Pig Prices Firm Despite Lost China Business

Fri, 21 May 2021 13:39:04 GMT

German pig prices rose this week as restaurants reopened in Germany with the easing of coronavirus lockdowns and EU exports continued to compensate for lost sales to China, experts said on Friday.

German pig prices rose to 1.54 euros a kg slaughter weight from 1.46 euros last week, the association of German animal farmers VEZG said.

Prices stood as low as 1.21 euros a kg in February after being hit last year by widespread import bans after African swine fever (ASF) was found in Germany.

“German prices are being supported by some re-stocking by the food service industry against a tight supply background as the food service sector gets ready to open,” said Justin Sherrard, Global Strategist Animal Protein at Rabobank. “As supplies are tight, it doesn’t take much of a bump on the demand side to push prices up after a flat period.

“Relaxing lockdowns will change the consumption patterns, with consumption shifting from retail to the food service sector as restaurants and the rest of the hospitality sector is able to work again.”

A German meat trader added: “Summers with major football events traditionally generate more meat consumption, with barbecues a tradition - and the European football championships are starting in June.”

China and other Asian countries banned German pork imports in September after ASF was found in wild animals in Germany. This resulted in other EU countries increasing exports to China, while German sales to Europe increased.

“German pork exporters have done an incredible job of re-distributing their sales to Europe after the loss of Chinese and Asian markets last year,” Sherrard said. “Spain especially has strongly increased its exports to China in early 2021, taking over a lot of the pork volume previously sold by Germany, along with some more moderate increases by the Netherlands and Denmark.

“Germany has taken over gaps left in other EU countries.”

(Reporting by Michael Hogan; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

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German Pig Prices Remain Firm Despite Export Disruption

Wed, 24 Mar 2021 15:42:04 GMT

German pig prices remained firm this week as sales inside Europe helped stabilize markets following import bans on German pork imposed last year by China and other Asian buyers, traders and industry sources said on Wednesday.

Prices were unchanged on the week at the high of 1.50 euros a kg slaughter weight touched in the second week of March and up from 1.21 euros in February, German animal farmers’ association VEZG said.

Piglet prices rose to 53 euros per animal from 51 euros last week and only 32.50 euros in early February, the association said.

Asian countries, including China, banned German pork imports in September 2020 after African swine fever (ASF) was found in wild boars in east Germany, causing falling pig prices. This changed trade flows, with other EU countries exporting to China, but as more German pork is being sold inside the EU, German prices are being supported.

“Denmark and Spain seem to have been selling a lot to China,” one German meat trader said. “China looks like becoming Denmark’s largest pork customer.”

There have been 845 ASF cases confirmed in wild boar, not farm animals, in Germany close to the Polish border. The governments of Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic agreed that boar hunting should be stepped up to combat the outbreak, Germany’s agriculture ministry said on Monday.

German slaughterhouses and meat packers were disrupted by COVID-19 outbreaks in past months, with slowdowns following tougher health and safety standards, causing a backlog of pigs on farms waiting to be slaughtered. This backlog has been dealt with, traders said.

(Reporting by Michael Hogan; editing by John Stonestreet)

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Germany Agrees to More Wild Boar Hunting to Combat African Swine Fever

Mon, 22 Mar 2021 15:46:23 GMT

The governments of Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic have agreed that intensified hunting of wild boar is needed to combat an outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) among wild animals, Germany’s agriculture ministry said on Monday.

Asian countries including China banned German pork imports in September 2020 after ASF was found in wild boar in east Germany, not farm animals, causing falling pig prices.

There have been 845 ASF cases confirmed in wild boar close to the Polish border in the east German states of Brandenburg and Saxony, but none in farm animals.

ASF has been present in Poland since 2014 and the Czech Republic since 2017, with wild animals suspected to be crossing into Germany and spreading the disease.

Agriculture ministers from Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic agreed in a video conference to more hunting to combat the disease, Germany’s agriculture ministry said in a statement.

“Hunting should fundamentally be intensified in order to reduce the wild boar population and avoid the risk of a further spread of the disease,” the ministry said.

Fencing has been built along the Polish border to prevent the spread of wild boar in cooperation with Poland, but there are still areas that need more protection, said German agriculture minister Julia Kloeckner.

“We are making massive efforts to contain the outbreaks inside the current region and to eradicate this animal disease as fast as possible.”

Germany is asking pork importers to accept the regionalisation concept under which imports are stopped only from the region of a country where ASF occurs, replacing blanket bans on all pork imports. Vietnam and several other countries have agreed to this.

ASF is not dangerous to humans but is fatal to pigs. Pork buyers often impose import bans on countries where it has been found, even in wild animals.

(Reporting by Michael Hogan Editing by David Goodman)

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German Pig Prices Up Again as EU Exports Replace Lost China Sales

Wed, 03 Mar 2021 19:36:56 GMT

German pig prices have risen again as sales inside the EU help markets recover from Asian import bans on German pork, traders and industry sources said on Wednesday.

German pig prices on Wednesday rose to 1.40 euros a kg slaughter weight from 1.30 euros last week, said the association of German animal farmers VEZG.

Prices in mid-February rose to 1.21 euros as markets recovered following import bans on German pork after African swine fever (ASF) was found in the country and after reduced slaughterhouse capacity following coronavirus outbreaks.

China and other Asian countries banned German pork imports in September 2020 after ASF was found in a wild boar in east Germany, not a farm animal, causing falling pig prices.

This led to trade displacement, with other EU countries raising exports to China, while German sales to Europe increased.

“There is a good volume of sales of German pork to elsewhere in the EU as exports by other European countries to China and elsewhere in Asia rise,” one trader said. “Spain and Denmark seem to be making large sales to Asia after Germany was pushed out of the market and Germany is filling up the gaps in Europe.”

Reduced German slaughterhouse capacity also caused pigs to be kept on farms longer than needed in past months, making them too big for standardised slaughtering.

German abattoirs and meat packing plants became COVID-19 hot spots last year, causing a major industry shake-up with improved health standards, which also cut slaughterhouse capacity. But capacity is recovering.

“Slaughter pigs are being sought strongly by abattoirs,” the association said. “The available supply is looking tight and is only just able to meet demand.”

German piglet prices also rose to 40 euros per animal from 35 euros last week and 32.50 euros in early February, the association said.

(Reporting by Michael Hogan, editing by Steve Orlofsky)

Germany Finds More African Swine Fever in Wild Boar, Cases Reach 480

Fri, 08 Jan 2021 16:55:57 GMT

The number of African swine fever (ASF) cases found in wild boar in Germany has now reached 480, Germany’s agriculture ministry said on Friday, continuing an outbreak of the disease among wild animals which halted German pork exports to Asia.

The cases have occurred since the first outbreak in September 2020 and were in eastern state of Brandenburg and Saxony around the areas of previous discoveries, the ministry said. But a new case in a wild boar is suspected in the Potsdam region near Berlin, the ministry added. No farm pigs affected.

China, South Korea and Japan all banned German pork imports in September 2020 after ASF was found. The disease is not dangerous to humans but is fatal to pigs.

Pork buyers often impose import bans on countries where it has been found, even in wild animals.

German agriculture minister Julia Kloeckner appealed to farmers to prevent their pigs having contact with wild boar and to ensure wild boar cannot reach food for farm pigs.

Fences along the Germany/Polish border aimed at preventing wild boar with ASF entering Germany have also been vandalised, Kloeckner said.

The agriculture ministry said it is continuing intensive talks with China about relaxing import bans on German pork.

Germany is asking China for a regionalisation agreement on pork imports, the ministry said. This involves stopping pork imports only from the region of a country where ASF has been found and not a blanket ban on sales from the whole country.

(Reporting by Michael Hogan, editing by Louise Heavens)

For the latest on ASF news, visit https://www.porkbusiness.com/topics/african-swine-fever .

Germany Is Bracing for Swine Fever

Thu, 19 Nov 2020 03:37:37 GMT

(Bloomberg) -- German hunting dogs are being trained to sniff out dead wild boar, authorities are stockpiling electric fences along the eastern frontier and the government in Berlin is urging drivers not to toss ham-sandwich scraps out of their car windows.

These are just some of the measures Europe’s top pork producer is taking to try to thwart the deadly African swine fever (ASF) that’s roiled global meat trade and is moving ever closer to its borders. After it was detected in Belgium last year, the viral disease recently popped up across western Poland, placing it a few dozen kilometers from Germany on either side.

A confirmed German case would disrupt an industry deeply rooted in the home of bratwurst, currywurst and frankfurters. Despite its relatively small size compared with producers like China or the U.S., Germany is a heavyweight in the global pork trade -- accounting for 15% of the world’s exports in 2017.

“We don’t know what will happen, but we are trained how to act and react,” German Agriculture Minister Julia Kloeckner said this week in Brussels. “For us, it’s important to inform everybody -- to inform tourists, to inform the farmers, and to prevent swine fever.”

ASF, which is not a risk to human health, threatens to end the boom times for German hog farmers. EU pig prices are running near a six-year high, lifted by surging Chinese demand. Much of Asia is suffering from unprecedented ASF outbreaks, and importers may look elsewhere if Germany is struck by the disease.

The livestock industry remains in close contact with veterinarians about how to handle a potential outbreak, said Bernhard Kruesken, general secretary of the DBV farmers’ union. There is no approved vaccine against ASF, which is highly contagious.

Authorities are practicing measures they would take to cordon off sick swine and restrict the movement of everything from trucks carrying pigs to hunters and joggers.

“We’re waiting for day zero and hope it will not occur, but of course it’s a significant risk,” Kruesken said by telephone. Farmers “have the feeling of skating on very, very thin ice.”

While Germany is home to some 26 million hogs, most are raised indoors and farmers take strict steps to ward off disease. Agribusiness company BayWa AG has boosted supplies of disinfectants and hygiene sets so that they can be delivered immediately in the event of outbreak.

Wild boar roaming fields and forests potentially pose a bigger threat, and Germany has struggled to rein in its ballooning population.

A warmer climate helps them reproduce year-round and spurs trees to yield more nuts and acorns, littering forest floors with fatty feedstock that helps piglets survive winters in greater numbers.

Local authorities are increasingly legalizing non-traditional equipment for hunters, who can’t keep up with kill quotas for the elusive, nocturnal animals.

Night-Vision Hunting

The southern states of Bavaria and Baden-Wuerttemberg allowed the use of night-vision gun attachments last year, clearing the way for boar hunting around the clock. Germany’s agriculture ministry is considering a nationwide legalization of the devices previously exclusive to the military and law enforcement.

In Saarland to the west, Hubertus Lehnhausen, who oversees forestry and hunting at the state environment ministry, has established a program that trains dogs to sniff out dead boar.

“I’m nearly astonished that swine fever didn’t arrive already, but it may arrive in a few days or a few weeks or a few months,” Lehnhausen said. “The faster we find the dead animals, the sooner we can get rid of this disease.”

The experience of neighboring Belgium may provide some hope that the disease won’t spill across the German border.

Belgian authorities discovered sick boar in mid-2018 -- northwest Europe’s first detection in decades -- but swine fever hasn’t spread to other nations or onto farms.

Eastern Europe hasn’t been as lucky, with more than 1,700 commercial or backyard operations struck by the virus in recent months.

Other nations are taking steps to protect themselves. To limit pig movement, Denmark built a fence along its border, while France erected a 132-kilometer (82-mile) barrier in the north.

Parts of Germany are following suit. The coastal Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state stocked up on 50 kilometers of electric fence to cordon off any ASF cases, Agriculture Minister Till Backhaus said in a statement.

Nearby Brandenburg is erecting wildlife fences on its side of the Oder river on the German-Polish border. On Monday, local media reported that Polish hunters found an infected hog carcass drifting some 80 kilometers upstream from Germany.

The scale of the challenge is huge. Given Germany’s lengthy borders, securing them entirely may prove impossible.

“If you build a fence 500 or more kilometers in the middle of Europe, it’s not so easy,” said Matthias Quaing, an analyst at the ISN pig producers’ association near Osnabrueck. For swine fever, “we can have it tomorrow, but it’s also possible that in the next 10 years, we don’t have it. We don’t know.”

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.