New Zealand pork industry fears of "ASF imports" from Poland
Poland is currently the fifth largest supplier of pork for New Zealand but the local industry starts worrying about the risks involved in the trade, as Poland has been affected by African Swine Fever (ASF) outbreaks in the last 5 years.
In April, Poland has doubled its pork exports to New Zealand reaching a volume of 307 tonnes and a 7.2% market share.
Even if no incidents have been reported so far, the local pork industry fears that pork exports from countries affected by ASF outbreaks such as Poland and Belgium are a real danger for domestic producers.
"We're very concerned that pork from ASF-infected countries is being accepted by the New Zealand market, now that other countries are refusing to take their products.
This is putting our industry at higher risk of exposure to a disease that can live almost indefinitely in frozen pork, and can be passed to the local pig herd through the feeding of untreated meat," declared NZ Pork chairman Eric Roy, according to Stuff magazine.
In his opinion, those countries are targeting New Zealand for their pork exports as other states in the Asia-Pacific region have already banned imports.
The United States and the rest of the European Union were still accepting pork from Poland, which was in line with World Trade Organisation rules, but countries such as Vietnam, China, and Australia have restricted imports of pork from Poland and other countries affected by ASF.
New Zealand has about 100 commercial pig farms and almost 5500 properties where an unknown number of pigs are bred. New Zealand imports 60% of the pork consumed in the domestic market.
This month, Poland was confronted with another ASF outbreak in a farm of 8,000 head. So far, Belgium has reported cases of ASF only in wild boars.
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