SHARE
COPY LINK

SWINE FLU

Denmark raises fence on German border to prevent swine fever

In a bid to protect its pork industry, Denmark began building a fence on Monday along its border with Germany to keep out wild boar infected with the African swine fever virus.

Denmark raises fence on German border to prevent swine fever
Work begins on Denmark's 'wild boar fence' on the border with Germany. Photo: Frank Cilius/Scanpix 2019

The 70-kilometre fence is a precautionary measure and expected to be completed in the autumn.

“The fence and our increased efforts to hunt wild boar will break the chain of infection so there is less risk of African swine fever spreading to Denmark,” Environment and Food Minister Jakob Ellemann-Jensen said.

There are “11 billion good reasons to do everything we can to prevent African swine fever reaching Denmark,” he added, in reference an estimated potential cost to Denmark of managing an outbreak.

The virus is not harmful to humans but causes haemorrhagic fever in pigs and wild boar that almost always ends in death within days.

It was first spotted in Poland in 2014 when infected wild boar entered from neighbouring Belarus.

Belgium reported its first case in September near the borders with Luxembourg and France, prompting it to carry out a preventive pig slaughter and set up an exclusion zone.

No cases have been reported in Germany.

The Danish wild boar fence has previously received criticism from environmental organisations, who have decried it as ineffective and of greater symbolic than practical effect.

A farmers’ association representative said that the fence was one of a number of measures that would provide reassurance for agricultural workers.

“This is part an insurance policy against African swine flu. You would also insure your house against fire, even though it will probably never burn down,” Mogens Dall of the LandboSyd association told Ritzau.

Denmark is one of Europe's main pork exporters, raising 28 million pigs per year across some 5,000 farms.

Pork accounts for five percent of Danish exports, or 30 billion kroner (four billion euros) in 2016.

In France, the army was in early January called in to help hunters cull thousands of wild boar near the Belgian border. A fence is also in the process of being raised.

READ ALSO:  

EXPORTS

‘Trade has collapsed’: Germany sees business with UK slump after Brexit

Germany's exports ticked up in January on robust trade with China, but trade with another key trade partner, Great Britain, plummeted after the Britain left the EU.

'Trade has collapsed': Germany sees business with UK slump after Brexit
Southampton harbour. Photo:Andrew Matthews/DPA

The Brexit fallout has continued to hurt commerce with the United Kingdom, with federal statistics office Destatis recording a 29 percent plunge in German exports across the Channel.

Meanwhile, demand for UK goods in Germany collapsed by more than 56 percent, official data showed Tuesday.

Cross-Channel exporters have had to adapt to new customs requirements from January 1, following Britain’s 2016 decision to leave the European Union.

Firms on both sides have since complained of increased bureaucracy and shipment delays as they grapple with the new rules.

BREXIT: What changes in Germany from January 2021?

“Foreign trade with Britain has collapsed,” said LBBW bank economist Jens-Oliver Niklasch.

Overall, German exports rose 1.4 percent month-on-month in seasonally adjusted figures, Destatis said.

But imports sank as coronavirus shutdowns sapped consumer demand in Europe’s top economy.

Imports slumped 4.7 percent, widening Germany’s closely-watched trade surplus to 22.2 billion euros.

Compared with a year ago, before the pandemic ravaged the global economy, exports fell 8.0 percent in January and imports almost 10 percent.

“Consumer demand fell sharply in January due to a lack of opportunities” as the government kept non-essential shops, leisure and cultural centres closed to rein in the coronavirus,  Niklasch.

But demand for “made in Germany” goods was powered by vital trade partner China, which has recovered faster from the virus shock.

Exports to European Union countries plunged six percent year-on-year, while demand for EU goods within Germany was down by almost the same.

Combined with Germany’s struggles to bring down Covid-19 infections despite months of shutdowns, “the January reading is not an indication of renewed German export strength, but rather an alarm bell for the first quarter.”

SHOW COMMENTS