The experts in virology and risk management will visit the affected area in the Bellaterra municipality northwest of Barcelona to survey the situation, provide advice and prepare a follow-up report with recommendations, a European Commission spokesperson said.

Spain is the European Union’s leading pork producer, accounting for a quarter of the bloc’s output, ahead of Germany, with annual exports worth about 3.5 billion euros (C$5.7 billion).

It resumed shipments on Monday from other regions to China, which accounts for almost 42 per cent of Spanish pork exports outside the EU, after Beijing confirmed it would only limit imports from the Barcelona area, in line with a recently-signed agreement that adopted a regional approach to pig disease and trade.

But other countries including Britain, Mexico and Canada have suspended a wide range of pork and by-product shipments from across Spain. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez urged them to continue buying from regions outside the containment zone.

“It is very important to keep markets beyond Europe open for pork exports,” Sanchez said in an interview with the TVE broadcaster.

Outbreaks around Europe

The EU task force was last deployed in September to help monitor a swine fever outbreak in Estonia.

Croatia is also trying to contain an outbreak, while Italy and Germany have recorded cases in recent years that have prompted the culling of pigs.

In France, which is currently free of the disease, the Agriculture Ministry said it will meet with experts later this week to assess the situation and propose any necessary additional surveillance measures.

“Biosecurity measures must be reinforced even more with three countries (Spain, Italy and Germany) around us now affected,” said Anne Richard, director of French pork industry association Inaporc.

Officials suspect the virus may have spread after a wild boar ate contaminated food, possibly a sandwich brought from outside Spain. The virus is harmless to humans, but spreads rapidly among pigs and wild boar, for whom it can be fatal.

It was first detected in two wild boar in a wooded, hilly area outside Barcelona. Seven more boars in the same area also died from the disease, Spain’s Agriculture Ministry said on Tuesday.

Catalan authorities have restricted all leisure activities, including hunting, within a 20 km radius of where the first two pigs were found. A tighter, 6 km perimeter has been fully closed off, with traps installed to catch and test wild boars.

Pig farmers pay the price

Even if the outbreak is contained, the costs for pig farmers in the affected area will be significant, said pork trader Nemesio Sanchez.

“It will be a long winter for Barcelona province, as it is one of the largest exporters of Large White pork and would lose access to China, its major customer,” Sanchez said.

The outbreak could allow U.S. farmers to gain market share.

“With more EU countries finding ASF within their borders, U.S. producers have an opportunity to meet global demand,” U.S. consultancy Steiner Consulting Group said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture forecasts U.S. pork exports, at 6.96 billion pounds next year, but Steiner Consulting said it could exceed 7 billion pounds if the outbreak in Spain is not contained.

— Additional reporting by Gus Trompiz, Tom Polansek, Corina Pons and Victoria Waldersee.

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The outbreak, the first since 1994, coincides with Spanish efforts to court Beijing and gain market share in the pork sector.

WHY IT MATTERS: African swine fever has been devastating for pork sectors in countries where infections have been found. Wild pigs — which were found to be infected in Spain — are also a potential disease vector of concern for the Canadian hog industry.

But any ban could be limited in scope after China and Spain signed a deal this month that would mean China would only restrict imports from an affected region rather than from all of Spain. Barcelona is in the Catalonia region, which accounts for about eight per cent of the country’s pork farms, according to Agriculture Ministry figures.

Spain is the European Union’s leading pork producer, accounting for roughly a quarter of the bloc’s output, ahead of Germany, with annual pork exports of about 3.5 billion euros (C$5.7 billion).

“It’s not good news. The European market is already struggling after a 20 per cent drop in prices since July,” said Jean-Paul Simier, a meat analyst at French commodities research group Cyclope.

“There is a risk of an embargo against the biggest EU pork exporter, notably in Asia, and China in particular.”

Spain’s farmers’ association Asaja said the sector was ready to face the outbreak, but said authorities needed to address an “out of control presence” of wild animals such as boars and rabbits in rural areas that risked contaminating livestock.

“We have spent years modernizing farms, reinforcing biosecurity and making our operations among the most advanced in the world,” it said.

Spanish pork group Interporc said it was working with Catalan and national authorities on cases limited to wild boar, with a 20-km surveillance zone, showing Spain’s strong animal-health monitoring.

The ministry said it had notified the European Union and activated emergency measures in the affected area, urging pig farms to tighten security measures while investigators try to find the source of the infection.

The virus, which is harmless to humans but deadly for pigs, has been spreading westwards in Europe in recent years.

Germany’s sizeable pork industry has already been rattled, with many overseas countries imposing bans on its pork. And in recent months Croatia has been trying to contain an outbreak.

— Additional reporting by Emma Pinedo, Corina Pons, Gus Trompiz in Paris and Ella Cao in Beijing.

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