Efforts to get Russia to lift EU pig ban unsuccessful

Difficulties arising from a blanket ban by Russia on all imports of pig meat from the EU have still not been resolved.

Russia is an important market for Irish pork with exports in 2013 of about 20,000 tonnes (66.5% higher than 2012) and a value of €55m.

Lithuania discovered two cases of African swine fever in wild boar near its border with Belarus in January this year.

It put in place the required disease control measures and informed fellow EU member states and the Commission of the outbreak.

The Commission proposed to provisionally exclude the affected region in Lithuania from exporting pigs and pigmeat to other countries including Russia.

This would have the effect of regionalising the outbreak and allowing other EU member states not affected by the disease to trade freely in live pigs, pigmeat and pigmeat products.

However, the Russian Federation and Customs Union refused to accept regionalisation of the disease.

They imposed a ban on all exports of pigs, pigmeat and pigmeat products from the EU certified after January 26, 2013.

An update on the current position was sought in the Dáil last week by former agriculture minister Brendan Smith, TD. His successor, Simon Coveney explained there had been ongoing contact at political and technical level between the Commission and the Russian Federation. But to date no solution has been found which would satisfy both parties to the dispute.