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Germany confirms five more cases of ASF

Germany has confirmed five more cases of African swine fever in wild boars in the eastern state of Brandenburg.  This brings the total number of cases to six.  Earlier this week China, South Korea, and Japan all halted imports of pork from Germany.

University of Missouri livestock economist Scott Brown says this will likely lead to a back-up of pork supplies in Germany.  But, he says, from a US perspective it isn’t anything but a positive.  “This is one of these where you’re more than happy for your neighbor to have an issue as long as you don’t have to have the same issue,” he says.  “I think there’s going to be a mixed bag in terms of what happens to German pork producers versus producers in many other parts of the world.”

Germany is one of the top providers of pork to China and has exported around 800 million pounds of pork so far this year.  In comparison, the US has shipped over 1 billion pounds of pork to China in the same time period this year.