Germany confirmed its first three cases of African swine fever in farm pigs last week, according to Reuters.
The development is not expected to have a large market impact, as multiple countries, including China, already banned German pork exports last September when the country first discovered ASF in wild boars. Since then, 1,267 cases have been confirmed in wild boars.
The virus was found on three small farms in the eastern state of Brandenburg, which borders Poland where ASF is rampant. One case was found on a pig farm with 200 hogs, and the two other cases were found on farms with fewer than four pigs.
"For almost a year we have been fighting against the enormous pressure of the disease from Poland," Ursula Nonnemacher, the Brandenburg state health minister, said, according to Reuters.
After the bans were imposed last year, other EU producers like Spain increased exports to China. Due to a regionalization clause within the EU, Germany was able to continue to export pork to other EU countries so long as the pork was not from regions where the disease had been detected.
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Germany will continue to export pork within the EU per the clause's specifications.
The news comes at a time when China is struggling to get the virus under control within its borders, with multiple outbreaks and new variants persisting throughout its provinces.
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