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Together with the EU Livestock and Meat Trade Union (UECBV) and the EU Commission, Copa & Cogeca held a high-level event at Green Week in Berlin and underlined the success of strategies to contain the spread of African Swine Fever which has enabled the EU to consolidate and even increase its market share on many export markets.
Speaking at the event which was attended by EU Commissioner Andriukaitis, Ministers and the Maltese Presidency, Copa President Martin Merrild said “This event shows the dynamism of EU pig producers who have implemented successful biosafety measures at farm level enabling us to increase performances in many of our export markets and consolidate the good reputation of EU pig chain. Prices have been picking up since last year. Indeed, the highest increase in export value over the last 12 months in the EU agriculture sector was recorded for pork: €+1.3 billion which represents +34% compared to export values in the 12-months period one year ago, mainly due to increased demand from China and other key markets”.
The success of the strategies to limit the spread of African Swine Fever from a few regions in Europe was also recognized by OIE Director-General of the World Health Organisation for Animal Health Monique Eloit who noted that « The most important achievement of the international cooperation is definitely an increased trust among the countries in the region as well as greater transparency on the countries’ situation, which are key factors for improving the prevention and control capacity ».
Mr Merrild went on to say that the presentation of several best practices by different Member States at the Seminar shows the strong coordination between the Commission, the national authorities and the operators which has enabled us to guarantee a high level of food security for pig meat production in Europe. He underlined the contribution of key EU trade partners that shared their experiences in fighting the disease. This was supported by Mr Jos Goebbels who pointed out that the EU has valuable and proven experience in eradicating this disease in the past, for example in Portugal and Spain. He underlined that this seminar shows the strong interest from stakeholders across Europe to coordinate their actions to eradicate African Swine Fever.
Friday January 20, 2017/ Copa-Cogeca/ European Union.
http://www.copa-cogeca.be
