ISN reports that pig exports from Belgium have declined significantly which experts attribute to the ongoing African swine fever outbreak, which has been depleting Belgian pig stocks and inhibiting trade.
According to the latest information from the Flemish Promotion Center for Agricultural and Fishery Products (VLAM), in 2019, Belgium marketed approximately 800,000 tonnes of pork, including offal by-products abroad. This corresponded to a decrease of 5 percent compared to the previous year, reports ISN.
The VLAM cited the main reason for this negative development to be a 2 percent reduction in the domestic pig population to around 6.1 million animals. Pig slaughter numbers have also dropped by a worrying 4.6 percent to around 10.7 million animals.
In addition, numerous and important trade partners, including China, have imposed import embargoes to help to control the ongoing African swine fever (ASF) epidemic in domestic and wild boar. As a result, Belgian pork exports to countries outside the EU fell by 41 percent compared to 2018.
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