China and Japan suspend German pork imports over African swine fever

China and Japan have suspended imports of pork and live pigs from Germany following the confirmation of the first case of African swine fever (ASF) in the European country.

The presence of ASF was confirmed in a wild boar near the Polish border in the eastern state of Brandenburg, Germany.

Apart from China and Japan, South Korea has also banned imports of German pork.

Japan imported more than 40,000 metric tonnes (mt) of pork from Germany in 2019, accounting for about 3.3% of the country’s total imports. No live pigs were imported by the East Asian country last year.

Germany’s pork exports to China are annually worth $1.2bn while Germany has so far supplied around 14% of China’s pork imports this year.

China’s ban on German pork imports comes as the country deals with its own spread of the Covid-19.

The ban is expected to increase global prices and demand for meat from other major suppliers such as the US and Spain.

US Meat Export Federation communications director Joe Schuele told Reuters that the US is also well positioned to ship more pork to China.

China imported 477,694mt of pork from the US in the first seven months of this year.

Meanwhile, Germany’s capital city Berlin said it is in discussions with officials in Japan, China and South Korea on shifting the nationwide bans into restrictions on specific German regions.