Progress made in re-opening shrunk export markets after swine fever

Efforts to re-open Hungary’s export markets shrunk because of African swine fever (ASP) show good progress, daily Magyar Idők said on Thursday citing the farm minister.

Hungarian pork can now be again exported to Hongkong, New Zealand, Canada, Macedonia and Georgia from areas not affected by ASP,

Imre Nagy said in response to questions submitted by MPs.

The farm ministry has held talks with thirty countries outside the European Union about trade opportunities and six high-level meetings were held in the past two months.

The only area affected by the ban now is Heves County in northern Hungary,

the paper said.

In addition to regaining markets, the farm ministry’s primary task is to prevent the virus from spreading to pigs. In Hungary ASP has so far only been discovered in dead wild boar.

The state is offering 100 percent compensation to farmers for livestock and equipment affected by the epidemic, Nagy said. Support can be requested from the European Union to cover 75 percent of the compensation and the ministry is assessing further possibilities for support to compensate for indirect damage, he added.

Farm ministry: Measures against African swine fever working

Hungary’s epidemic protection measures against African swine fever (ASP) seem to be working, Hungary’s chief veterinarian officer said on Wednesday.

The area affected by ASP in Heves County, in northern Hungary, has shrunk, said Lajos Bognár, who is also the deputy state secretary for protecting the food chain.

Hungary is consulting with 30 countries on amending the blanket import ban so that the ban only applies to affected areas, he told parliament’s agricultural committee on Wednesday.

Source: MTI