The National Pig Association (NPA) is seeking clarity from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) on the UK Government’s approach to African swine fever (ASF) regionalisation agreements, after Spain was able to “rapidly implement” agreements following an outbreak.
NPA said that Spain’s ASF outbreak, confirmed in wild boar near Barcelona on 28th November, has highlighted a number of issues of relevance to the UK industry and Government. It said this was part of its “ongoing efforts” to prevent and, if necessary, prepare for an outbreak on UK shores.
The Association discussed its concerns over a “lack of a clear position on regionalisation” by the UK Government, in “stark contrast” to Spain, which it said was able to rapidly implement agreements already in place as part of the EU and with China. Spain had only just made a regionalisation ‘in principle’ with China prior to the outbreak.
Regionalisation aims to ensure that trade continues safely from disease-free regions, ensuring that trade is not the cause of the spread of disease in importing countries.
NPA stated that the UK had “rapidly put in place regionalisation arrangements” in relation to Spanish pork imports, with the agreements enabling trade to continue from outside specified restricted areas, aiming to reduce the economic damage of ASF outbreaks.
NPA chief executive Lizzie Wilson said the UK’s arrangements with the EU are “not set in stone”.
During its latest regular meeting with Defra, NPA raised the issue of the speed with which Spain put its regionalisation agreements in place and pressed for more clarity on the UK’s position.
Wilson commented: “We submitted a raft of questions on ASF and regionalisation. Spain has shown what is possible. It was almost overnight. They are a huge exporter and very reliant on their export markets, so they made sure they had all their ducks in a row.”
NPA highlighted that Defra has, in the past, only provided assurances about regionalisation being “enshrined in principle” in the UK’s trade agreement with the EU.
Wilson continued: “But there are no guarantees. So, we have put all those queries into Defra and will wait to see what comes back. The sudden arrival of ASF in Spain is another reminder of the urgency of this issue. We cannot be scrambling around trying to arrange regionalisation agreements once ASF strikes. We need certainty now.”
Marcus Bates, who NPA described as “heavily involved” in the UK pork trade as a member of the UK Export Certification Partnership, agreed that the Spanish situation “just emphasises the importance of getting regionalisation for ourselves”.
He noted that, while Defra has been talking about regionalisation agreements with China for some time, “nothing concrete has happened”.
Bates stated: “The fact that Spain have a regionalisation agreement for China seems like an opportunity for us to really push this up the agenda. The figures I’ve seen suggest that China represents 20% of Spain’s exports, but it’s 40% of ours so the impact of losing the Chinese market for the UK would be devastating.
“If the Spanish can do it, so can we. How stupid would we look if we get ASF and we haven’t even started to talk to China about it?”
Bates told NPA that the issue should be “top of the agenda” in diplomatic discussions between the UK and Chinese Governments over the next year. He added that there was some good news in that the UK is “engaging very positively” on a regionalisation agreement with the Philippines, which NPA pointed out is the second biggest third country market for pork.
