September 17, 2020

Pork exports from Germany to China doubled in first half of 2020

Germany's Federal Statistics Office said the country's pork exports to China more than doubled between January to June this year, highlighting the impact of China's imposed German pork import ban following the discovery of African swine fever (ASF), Reuters reported.

233,000 tonnes of German pork was exported to China from January to June 2020, accounting for 26.8% of total German pork exports. Because of this, China is the biggest pork export market for Germany, followed by Italy.

The office said high demand from China was because China was managing its own ASF outbreak in the country as it struggled with dwindling domestic pork supplies.

In total, Germany exported 870,700 tonnes of pork overseas at EUR 2.4 billion (~US$2.84 billion; EUR 1 = US$1.18). However, the office said swine farming numbers have dropped 3.9% over the last 10 years.

China's ban on German pork imports will badly affect German producers and is expected to increase global pork prices. Japan and South Korea are the other countries that have banned German pork imports.

-      Reuters