PARIS (Reuters) – France has signed an agreement with China to ensure pork trade can continue even if an outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) occurs, in a breakthrough for European countries threatened by the pig disease, the French government said on Monday.
ASF, which is deadly for pigs but harmless to humans, is not present in France but has spread across Europe, including affecting wild boar in Belgium close to the French border.
The agreement, which takes effect immediately, means China would allow pork exports from unaffected regions of France even if cases occurred elsewhere in the country, the French economy and agriculture ministries said in a statement.
“This agreement is the first of its kind to be signed by China in favour of a European Union country. It is thus a model and heralds future agreements with other sectors and countries,” French Agriculture Minister Julien Denormandie said.
The agreement was signed during bilateral economic talks chaired by French Finance minister Bruno Le Maire and Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua, the statement said.
Blanket bans on meat trade imposed by China and other importing countries due to outbreaks of ASF and other diseases, such as bird flu, have regularly disrupted exports from livestock exporting zones in Europe and the Americas.
Germany has also been in talks with China about a regional approach after wild boar have spread ASF in the east of the country since last year.
China blocked pork trade with Germany, one of the EU’s biggest suppliers, causing volatility in European prices and exports.
Avian influenza, commonly known as bird flu, is another disease for which exporting countries have been seeking a regionalisation approach from China in trade.
The United States secured a regionalisation agreement covering bird flu as part of its Phase 1 trade deal with Beijing.
France, in common with other European countries, has in recent weeks detected outbreaks of bird flu.
French poultry exports to China have been subject to a total ban since late last year when a previous wave of bird flu started, farming agency FranceAgriMer said.
(Reporting by Gus Trompiz, Leigh Thomas and Sudip Kar-Gupta in Paris, Dominique Patton in Beijing and Michael Hogan in Hamburg; editing by Sybille de La Hamaide and Barbara Lewis)
