August 7, 2014

Ukraine ban pig imports over PED and ASF fears

Ukraine has enforced emergency restrictions on the import of live pigs and feed produced from pork products from Canada, China, Columbia, Dominican Republic, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Russia and the United States, effective July 25, citing fears of porcine epidemic diarrhoea (PED) and African swine fever (ASF).

The PED virus has already killed around 8 million pigs in the United States, or about 10% of the country's hog herd, pushing live hog and retail pork prices to record highs as supplies have been cut.

Ukraine also put a temporary ban on Polish exports of animals susceptible to African swine fever, as well as their products, raw materials and semen, effective from July 25, following an outbreak of the disease among pigs in Poland. It put a restriction on the same products from Russia from July 21 after an outbreak affected the regions of Bryansk, Orenburg and Kursk.