Eight more wild boar with suspected cases of African swine fever were discovered near Barcelona, La Vanguardia newspaper reported on Sunday, as Spain struggles to limit the damage to a pork export industry worth billions of euros a year. The newspaper cited sources close to the Catalan agriculture ministry. Two cases have been confirmed, and 12 others have shown signs they may also have the disease but are undergoing tests to confirm this.
If confirmed, it would bring the number of infected animals to 14. About a third of Spanish pork export certificates have been blocked after the first outbreak of swine fever in Spain – the European Union’s top pork producer – since 1994, Spain’s agriculture minister said on Saturday. “Of the 400 export certificates to 104 countries, a third are blocked. We are working to open them as quickly as possible,” Agriculture Minister Luis Planas told a press conference. Planas said the value of the country’s pork exports is 8.8 billion euros ($10.2 billion) a year. “Our task is to keep international markets open,” he added.