Spain reports first African swine fever cases since 1994 in wild boar

Audio By Carbonatix

MADRID (Reuters) -Spain has detected its first cases of African swine fever since 1994 after two wild boar found dead near Barcelona tested positive for the virus, the Agriculture Ministry said on Friday.

The outbreak could threaten exports to China that have grown due to efforts by Madrid to court Beijing and gain market share.

But a ban could be limited after China and Spain signed a deal this month that would mean Beijing would only restrict imports from an affected region rather than from all of Spain.

Spain is the EU’s leading pork producer, accounting for roughly a quarter of the bloc’s output, ahead of Germany, according to the Agriculture Ministry.

The ministry said it has notified the European Union and activated emergency measures in the affected area, urging pig farms to tighten security measures while investigators probe the source of the infection.

The virus, which is harmless to humans but deadly for pigs, has been spreading westwards in Europe in recent years.

The spread of the disease to Germany upended the country’s large pig industry, with many overseas countries imposing bans.

In recent months Croatia has been trying to contain an outbreak of the disease in pig farms.

(Reporting by Jesus Calero; additional reporting by Emma Pinedo, Corina Pons, Gus Trompiz in Paris and Ella Cao in Beijing; editing by Charlie Devereux and Tomasz Janowski)