By Alice McFarlane

Germany loses Chinese pork market due to African Swine Fever case

Sep 15, 2020 | 4:13 PM

There is an opportunity for Canada’s hog industry according to an international swine expert.

Dr. John Carr is an livestock veterinarian and consultant living in Australia.

He said China has a huge appetite for pork. But on Friday it announced it would no longer take pork from Germany, one of its major suppliers.

Germany has a confirmed case of African Swine Fever. The diagnosis was made on a wild boar.

Carr said Germany does not produce weanlings, but instead makes purchases from other countries and then processes and exports those pigs to China. This is about 14 per cent of China’s pork requirements.

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“You lose six million pigs overnight, the price falls through the floor and you’re not going to buy more weanlings,” Carr said. “The Danes, the Dutch and the Spanish no longer have the finishing capacity to be able to handle these animals. The Germans have just lost their number one market.”

One confirmed case of African Swine Fever has pushed Germany out of the pork supply picture. Carr said it is a disaster for the markets of the European supply countries.

“The German market is interesting as they don’t make pigs anymore, they farm them. They farm them from Spain and Holland. This disaster is not German, it’s Spanish, Dutch and Danish because that’s where they get their weanlings from,” Carr said.

It won’t stop there. Carr said he expects Germany to lose access to South Korea and Japanese pork markets.

What role does Canada play in this scenario? Carr said it is an opportunity for Canada to step up.

“The world needs Canada and the world ignores it, but Canada is the saviour of the planet,” he said.

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alice.mcfarlane@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @AliceMcF